With the prospect of a colder back half of February countered by mild weather and continued production strength in the interim, natural gas futures probed both sides of even early Monday.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The March Nymex contract was off 3.1 cents to $2.048/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET, though the front month had pushed as high as $2.127 in after hours trade.

Weather models finished the weekend colder trending versus Friday’s expectations, maintaining prospects for a turn toward chillier conditions into the back half of the month, according to NatGasWeather.

“No changes to timing,” with models continuing to advertise “exceptionally light national demand through Feb. 13 but then with colder temperatures gaining ground across the U.S. Feb. 14-18 for stronger national demand,”...