The spot market may not be able to string together another five consecutive days of gains at most or all points like it did last week, but it started out this week in much the same fashion. Supported primarily by last Friday’s 23-cent increase in June futures and to a lesser extent by the return of industrial load from its usual weekend downturn, quotes rose at all but one point Monday.

As it did last week, the cash market achieved its advance in spite of what seems like nominally bearish conditions dominating the weather picture. However, cooling trends are taking lows into the 40s and occasionally 30s and even 20s Tuesday in the Northeast, Rockies and Western Canada, while sultry highs from around 90 into the low to mid 100s will stretch from the western end of the South into the desert Southwest.

Although an Overage Alert Day begun May 2 by Florida Gas Transmission was in its 10th consecutive day and counting Monday, a drop of about 15 cents by the Florida citygate made it the only point failing to rise. All others ranged from 2-3 cents to about a quarter higher. The West and Northeast citygates tended to see most of the increases of about 15 cents or more.

There’s a good chance that the Overage Alert Day was in its last day Monday. The Weather Channel (TWC) is predicting cooler temperatures for much of the Sunshine State Tuesday.

Cash numbers will have slightly negative screen guidance Tuesday after the July futures contract followed Friday’s spike with a decline of 0.9 cent Monday (see related story).

The hot and cold spots noted above notwithstanding, much of North America continues to enjoy fairly moderate mid-May weather. Aside from highs reaching the 80s and 90s in Texas, Louisiana and Florida, the rest of the South along with the Midcontinent is cooler than normal with peak temperatures rarely surpassing the mid 70s.

A storm front will keep the interior West cool north of the desert Southwest, according to TWC, and increasing rain and thunderstorms from the Plains to the Mississippi Valley will limit Midwestern highs to the 70s except in portions of western Nebraska and Kansas.

Citing cooler weather and higher cash prices last week, a utility buyer in the South said his company fell a little behind on its schedule for storage injections. There’s no problem with that, though, as there should be plenty of opportunities to catch up on the schedule, he said.

It got chilly enough over the weekend that the buyer said he closed the windows again at his house after having been able to leave them open in recent weeks. It should be pretty rainy in his area most of this week, he added, so there’s no significant heat in sight at this point.

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