2011 second-warmest year ever for U.K.

LONDON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- 2011 was the second-warmest year on record in Britain, the country's meteorologists said, with high temperatures for unusually lengthy periods.

2011's average temperature of 49.3 degrees Fahrenheit was second only to 2006's average of 49.5 F, the BBC reported.

The figures are a mean temperature taken over day and night.

2011 included the warmest April and spring on record, the second-warmest autumn and the warmest October day, the British Met Office said.

All but one of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1997, and the United Kingdom's top seven warmest years have been in the last decade, it said.

The warmest temperature recorded in 2011 was 91.5 F on June 27 at Gravesend in Kent, the warmest temperature recorded in five years, meteorologists said.

The coldest temperature was 8.6 F at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands on Jan. 8, they said.