Re: These are primarily products for the US - not the UK
For cold places, they probably did what people did in northern Europe: bundle up, hunker down, and wait. Alaskans in particular still do this due to the face the sun can take a months-long absence there. As for the hot places, two things tended to help quite a bit: ice warehouses and beer (specifically lager, which you normally served cold). If you wonder why Americans switched from ale to lager, summer and the arid southwest are the big reasons.