Northeast citygates saw big losses Tuesday following passage of the worst of the winter storm that has been ravaging the Eastern Seaboard in recent days, but prices were still rising in most of the rest of the market. Despite warming trends due to continue Wednesday from the Midwest through the Midcontinent and South, apparently enough heating load remained in the forecast to keep a majority of points firm.

Overall the cash market was flat to a little more than a quarter higher. Although the Rockies tended to record most of Tuesday’s largest gains, averages there remained well below $3.

Losses ranged from 2-3 cents to about $4.90, with all of the multi-dollar plunges occurring at Northeast citygates. Whereas deliveries in the Northeast had averaged in quadruple digits Monday, quotes peaked at an even $10 Tuesday in Transco Zone 6’s New York pool.

The cash market had modestly negative guidance from the 4.6-cent decline by April futures a day before, but Wednesday’s numbers will get screen support after the contract rebounded by 13 cents Tuesday (see related story).

The Northeast can expect slightly higher temperatures at some locations Wednesday, but for the most part temperatures will stay below freezing at least one more day. A heavy snow cover in much of the region likely will take several days to melt.

Coastal sections of the South will see a warming trend but will still be fairly chilly three days after the storm left for more northerly climes. Moving westward from the coast, conditions tend to get warmer. There was a good chance that the Texas market was buoyed to some extent Tuesday by likely heating load as most of the Lone Star State is forecast to see highs from the upper 70s to the mid 80s Wednesday. All of South Texas along with Katy and the Houston Ship Channel in East Texas were firmer Tuesday.

Quotes were solidly higher across the West, which in addition to the usual mountain-area cold will experience chilly weather in Northern California and near-freezing lows in the Pacific Northwest.

Despite prior-day screen support, it will be difficult for cash prices to keep from softening Wednesday as moderating weather is predicted for the last half of the week in several regions.

Even without the forecasts, a Midwestern utility buyer said his company could tell the weather was getting milder from the falling loads on its system. Of course, he added, part of the receding throughput could be attributable to less industrial demand because of the bad economy.

Wednesday will be the first day in about a week for the utility’s service area to stay entirely above freezing, the buyer went on. Temperatures should stay fairly moderate in the 40s through at least the weekend, he said. There doesn’t seem to be much winter left because the daylight hours are getting noticeably longer, he said.

In a related note, some pipelines and utilities are reminding customers that Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. local time Sunday. That makes Saturday’s gas day a 23-hour one, and nominations should be adjusted accordingly.

The National Weather Service (NWS) expects normal conditions during the March 9-13 workweek in a relatively slim north-south band through the central U.S. In its six- to 10-day forecast posted Tuesday afternoon, the agency called for above-normal temperatures everywhere east of a line curving southwestward from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to the Big Bend area of West Texas. NWS predicted below-normal readings everywhere west of a line, also curving southwestward, from eastern Minnesota to the far western end of Texas south of New Mexico. The greatest deviations from normal in both areas will occur in the southeastern and northwestern sections of the nation, NWS said.

Stephen Smith of Stephen Smith Energy Associates said Tuesday he looks for a storage draw of 112 Bcf to be reported for the week ending Feb. 27. The volume replaced his original estimate of 105 Bcf, Smith said.

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