As forecasts continued to offer signs of a chillier start to 2022, natural gas futures advanced in early trading Monday. The January Nymex contract was up 14.8 cents to $3.879/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET, albeit well off the $3.979 high reached in off-hours trading over the weekend.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Prices gapped higher following the Christmas holiday break, coinciding with forecasts for a “frosty pattern” into the first 10 days of January, according to NatGasWeather. 

However, in overnight runs ahead of Monday’s session, both the American and European modeling showed significant declines in heating degree days by “seeing not quite as much cold air into the northern U.S.,” the firm said. “There are still bouts of strong demand expected” between New Year’s Day and Jan. 10, but...