The last time Denver started a year as cold as 2019, Ronald Reagan was in his first term as president and The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” was topping billboards.

With an average temperature of 41.9 degrees so far in 2019 (through Sunday), Denver is off to its coldest start to a calendar year since 1983. Denver averaged a year-to-date temperature of 44.2 degrees from the start of the year through Sunday, putting our year-to-date a full 2.3 degrees below average since Jan. 1.

At this point of 2018, Denver had an average temperature of 46.6 degrees, a nearly five-degree differential from this trip around the sun.

Both March and May finished with monthly average temperatures of more than 5 degrees below average. Only January and April have finished with (marginally) above average monthly readings.

There has, of course, been plenty of good to come from the cold. Colorado’s snowpack is now famously off the charts for the first time in years, and reservoirs will reap the benefits this summer after a pesky 20-month drought.

RELATED: Why Colorado’s snowpack numbers are so ridiculously off the charts

But for those of you wanting summer, you’ve been mostly out of luck. So far this year, Denver’s warmest temperature has been a measly 86 degrees, and it’s unlikely we’ll top that this week.

While several factors are to blame for the chilly start to the calendar year, a few broad factors stand out. First, a persistent trough of low pressure throughout the western United States has kept Colorado persistently wet and cool. Second, a weak El Nino is likely enhancing precipitation throughout the West, including Colorado. Third, surges of energy from the Madden-Julian Oscillation are likely helping contribute extra moisture to the area, keeping Colorado on the stormier side of things. Stormy weather is often associated with cooler weather, due to added cloud cover limiting daytime heating. Plus, the subsequent evaporation of precipitation is a cooling process.

This same string of events has also combined to keep Denver and the Front Range on the wetter side of average, in addition to the cooler temperatures. Through Sunday, Denver had received 7.70 inches of precipitation since Jan. 1, over an inch above normal.

Summer officially begins Friday at 9:54 am. But so far in 2019, it’s winter that’s been winning out.