Even as the latest weather models models maintained an intensely cold outlook for the first half of the month, natural gas futures remained largely unmoved in early trading Wednesday. The March Nymex contract was down 0.9 cents to $2.836/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

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The weather models added demand overnight compared to their midday runs from Tuesday, according to Bespoke Weather Services. The models continue to project a “very cold” first half of February, but frigid temperatures expected this weekend into early next week are now forecast to be less intense, while the outlook for late next week has trended colder, the firm said.

Overall, Bespoke said its current 15-day forecast is more than 90 gas-weighted degree days colder than five-year norms.

“There are times...