Natural gas futures inched higher early Wednesday as updated forecasts hinted at somewhat cooler conditions developing over the eastern Lower 48 into the back half of March.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The April Nymex contract advanced to $1.968/MMBtu as of 8:44 a.m. ET, up 1.1 cents. May was trading fractionally higher at $2.101.

The American weather model shifted warmer overnight, while overall heating demand projections from the European dataset remained mostly unchanged, NatGasWeather told clients early Wednesday.

The firm called for low to very low natural gas demand nationally through the first 12 days of the projection period.

“The overnight data continues to show cooler systems tracking into the U.S. March 18-21 for seasonal demand,” though the American model trended warmer for this...