An increase in demand projections overnight from one of the major weather models helped natural gas futures extend their recent gains in early trading Tuesday. After surging 15.6 cents in Monday’s session, the February Nymex contract was up 4.7 cents to $2.649/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET. March was up 2.7 cents to $2.625.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The Global Forecast System (GFS) added 10 heating degree days (HDD) to its projections overnight, while the colder European model dropped 3 HDD, bringing the models into better agreement, according to NatGasWeather.

“The timing of major features to impact the U.S. held, with strong national demand Wednesday through Friday as cold air spreads across the northern and eastern U.S., followed by weaker demand” late this weekend through Feb. 4, when “much of...