With February only days away, the natural gas market may be closing the book on winter – and brushing off news of Freeport LNG’s impending restart – as forward prices continued to soften through the Jan. 19-25 period, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

The past week’s trading patterns continued the trends that have played out throughout much of the season, with the West and East coasts leading the step lower as intimidating cold has been lacking from recent forecasts.

NatGasWeather said a strong winter storm would exit the East on Thursday, while a colder system upstream was forecast to track across the Midwest over the next few days. This system is expected to open the door for reinforcing frigid shots to advance aggressively into the northern and central United States,...