Natural gas futures remained under pressure early Thursday as a mixed weather outlook and ongoing production strength figured to preserve a healthy storage cushion heading into the heart of summer.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Coming off a 5.2-cent sell-off in the previous session, the August Nymex contract was off 0.4 cents to $2.653/MMBtu at around 8:35 a.m. ET. September was down 0.3 cents to $2.640.

The European weather model trended hotter overnight, essentially reversing cooler trends from a previous run, while the American model’s outlook showed little change, NatGasWeather told clients early Thursday.

“No changes overall, with strong national demand today, then easing Friday through Tuesday to moderate to high levels as weather systems track across the Midwest and Great Lakes,” the firm...