A major revision in the April weather forecast coming back from the Easter weekend took a big chunk out of natural gas forward prices for the period ending April 8. The short work week ended with the May contract down an average 10.0 cents and the balance of summer (May-October) off 7.0 cents, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Columbia River water supply

The rest of the curve fared much better, with the majority of pricing locations seeing gains and losses of less than a nickel.

The bearish weather shift over the weekend accentuated declining demand, according to EBW Analytics Group LLC. The May Nymex contract plunged to a year-to-date low of $2.456/MMBtu on Tuesday’s close, though it recovered from there and by the close of Friday’s session was at $2.526.

April is now forecast to feature a mere...