This year was UK's second-warmest ever .

LONDON - The year 2011 was Britain's second-warmest ever, the Met Office said on Friday, although temperatures in December have in fact been close to average.

The mean temperature so far this month has been 4.7 degrees Celsius (40.5 degrees Fahrenheit), 0.5 above the 1971-2000 average, a far cry from 2010, when temperatures were 5 degrees below average to notch up the coldest December on record.

"While it may have felt mild for many so far this December, temperatures overall have been close to what we would expect," said John Prior, national climate manager at the Met Office.

"It may be that the stark change from last year, which was the coldest December on record for the UK, has led many to think it has been unseasonably warm."