Late February Pattern ‘Quite Bearish’ as Natural Gas Futures Grind Lower

As overnight weather model runs continued to hone in on a turn toward milder conditions for the Lower 48 in late February, natural gas futures skidded lower in early trading Friday. The March Nymex contract was off 6.7 cents to $3.892/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

Prices popped above $4 overnight following demand gains from the American weather model, NatGasWeather said.

However, the European model “failed to trend colder to match,” and prices retreated, the firm observed.

Both models “agree the frigid cold pool will retreat into northern Canada Feb. 22-26 and out of reach of U.S. weather systems to tap, resulting in above normal temperatures over the U.S. besides the far West,” NatGasWeather said.

The temperature outlook during this time frame was “quite...