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At a Glance Some cities in the Plains had their coldest January through June in decades.

A persistent weather pattern was responsible for cool and wet conditions in winter and spring.

The north-central states were cold outliers from most of the rest of the world. Temperatures in the first half of 2019 were the coldest in decades across parts of the Plains because of a stubbornly persistent jet stream pattern in winter and spring.

The northern Plains region, which includes the Dakotas, had temperatures that were the farthest below average in 2019's first six months. Some cities had an average temperature that was 4 to 6 degrees below average for the entire period spanning Jan. 1-June 30, according to data from the Southeast Regional Climate Center. That's a significant margin considering it includes an average of all temperatures for 181 days.

Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Aberdeen, South Dakota, had their coldest Jan. 1-June 30 in 40 years, according to statistics compiled by Bob Henson, senior meteorologist at Weather Underground. The average temperature for those six months combined also ranks among the top 20 coldest for that period in records dating to 1893.

Denver's first six months of the year ranked as the coldest since 1983. The Mile High City had its 17th coldest (tie) Jan. 1-June 30 dating to 1872.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/0702-coolest-since2.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/0702-coolest-since2.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/0702-coolest-since2.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > Using data from NOAA, the blue contours illustrate where temperatures were below average overall Jan. 1-June 30, 2019. The year shown for each city is the last time January through June was colder than this year.

Oklahoma City, Fargo, North Dakota and Scottsbluff, Nebraska, all had their coldest first six months of the year since the 1990s, or more than two decades ago.

February and May were the two coldest months relative to average in the northern half of the Plains. Those months each ranked among the top 11 coldest in the Dakotas and Nebraska.

As mentioned earlier, a persistent jet stream pattern is to blame for the colder-than-average start to 2019 in the north-central states. The jet stream often plunged southward into the western and central United States during winter and spring, hauling cold air southward from Canada.

Wet conditions also gripped the central United States in spring because of the same general weather pattern.

The combination of wet and cool conditions has impacted farmers in the Plains . Crops were running two to three weeks behind schedule in central North Dakota as of late-June, according to the Grand Forks Herald.

It's also important to note that 2019's chilly start in the nation's northern tier is an outlier from the rest of the world. Earth was on track to have its third warmest year on record through the end of May.