Natural gas futures slid further on Wednesday as weather models backed off the upcoming winter blast targeting the Lower 48. Some profit-taking also likely factored into the midweek pricing behavior, with the March Nymex contract slipping 5.6 cents day/day to $2.789. April fell 4.6 cents to $2.772.

Spot gas started to retreat as well, though prices on the East Coast remained strong. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. dropped 20.5 cents to $3.545.

After such weighty gains in projected demand in recent weather models, some modest changes to the outlook were to be expected. Nevertheless, the 15-day forecast remained strongly supportive, according to NatGasWeather. The Global Forecast System (GFS) and the European model still are a massive 70-plus heating degree days (HDD) colder than...