With warmer forecast trends over the weekend showing exceptionally frigid Lower 48 temperatures subsiding after Christmas, natural gas futures were down sharply in early trading Monday. 

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The January Nymex contract was down 44.0 cents to $6.160/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET. February was off 35.8 cents to $5.945.

While weather models over the weekend did show Arctic cold advancing further south later this week and into the weekend, the data trended warmer for the Dec. 27-Jan. 1 time frame, according to NatGasWeather.

Based on updated forecasts “the frigid cold pool retreats into Canada” during this period, allowing warmer-than-normal conditions to spread over the Lower 48 and leading to weaker weather-driven demand, NatGasWeather said. 

“With highs of 60s and 70s over...