Natural gas spot gas prices were lower this week despite scorching heat that spread outside of California and Texas to blanket much of the Lower 48. Led by steep losses in California, NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. plummeted 30.0 cents to $2.300/MMBtu for the week of Aug. 21-25 trading.

Nymex natural gas futures also softened through the period as weather models trended slightly cooler. Futures managed to get some support from the latest storage inventory data, but that too wasn’t enough to materially change the backdrop. The September Nymex contract settled Friday at $2.540, up 2.1 cents day/day, but off 1.1 cents week/week.

With temperatures soaring into the 90s and low 100s and driving up power burns, spot gas prices across the country gathered momentum early in the...