Slightly improved weather-driven demand and rising spot prices fueled a second-straight day of gains for natural gas futures. The December Nymex contract gained 8.2 cents day/day and settled at $3.031/MMBtu on Wednesday. January advanced 7.8 cents to $3.151.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 13.5 cents to $2.585, a third consecutive day of gains.

Wednesday’s prompt month momentum built atop an increase of 9.0 cents the previous day after a blast of snow and cold moved into the Upper Midwest, and forecasts for the next few days shifted slightly cooler. Overall, expectations increased for modest national demand improvement this week.

For the second day in row, Bespoke Weather Services projected demand gains, with a few days toward the front half of the 15-day outlook...