Natural gas futures slipped early on Monday following forecasts for mild weather and diminished heating demand. However, they rebounded in afternoon trading and finished in the green amid anticipation of a late-month surge in frigid temperatures.

Evening Markets

The February Nymex gas futures contract settled at $2.747/MMBtu, up 4.7 cents day/day after falling more than 10 cents in morning trading. March gained 4.7 cents to $2.703.

With conditions mostly mild Monday, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. shed 3.5 cents to $2.745.

“The forecast continued its warming trend over the weekend, due to a couple of factors,” Bespoke Weather Services said. “One is that the nearer-term forecast, with no quality cold source anywhere in North America, rolled forward warmer. The other reason is that, once...