As traders and analysts parsed the latest forecasts for clues on the intensity of this month’s frigid temperatures and the timing of when the cold pattern will start to fade, natural gas futures were up slightly early Wednesday. The March Nymex contract was trading 2.9 cents higher at $2.864/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

Henry Hub prompt

As of early Wednesday, both the American and European models had trended warmer over the previous 24 hours, indicating a return to more normal temperatures heading into the final week of February, according to Bespoke Weather Services.

“We still have lots of cold to wade through over the next week to 10 days, and remain on pace for a February that is cold enough to rival the coldest Februarys in our database dating back to 1981, with the exception of...