A steep decline in March heating demand expectations over the weekend prompted a hasty retreat for natural gas futures in early trading Monday, erasing gains from a rally that had perhaps pushed prices too high, too soon.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The April Nymex contract was off 36.6 cents to $2.643/MMBtu as of around 8:45 a.m. ET.

Anticipated March cold had helped the April contract nose above the $3 mark last week, but much of that projected heating demand evaporated from forecasts over the weekend.

The American weather model shed 25 heating degree days (HDD) from the 15-day forecast, while the European model dropped “an even more massive” 32 HDD from the outlook, according to NatGasWeather.

“Warmer trends weren’t a surprise, since as we mentioned Friday the primary risk was…some sort...