Although Northeast citygates were descending rapidly from the lofty heights they had reached in pre-weekend trading, most of the market continued to rise Monday as a widespread snowstorm continued to envelop the Midwest, Northeast and even the northern reaches of the South. The general firmness also was supported by the previous Friday’s 9.9-cent increase by March futures and the return of industrial load from its normal weekend hiatus.

Most of the market was flat to nearly 30 cents higher. However, although they could still expect a continuation of snow and lows in the teens and 20s, Northeast points recorded losses ranging from nearly a quarter to about $3.55 (nearly all of them were in triple digits). Transco Zone 6-New York continued to rule the top of the price hill with quotes peaking at $10.

Tuesday’s cash market will have moderately negative screen guidance after prompt-month futures spent much of the morning in positive territory but wound up the day with a loss of 11.4 cents (see related story).

The Mid-Atlantic, still digging out from under a huge dump of snow that began last Thursday and continued through the weekend, can’t look for any relief yet as it can count on another visit of frozen precipitation Tuesday, according to The Weather Channel. Heavy snow and/or sub-freezing temperatures also continued to dominate the forecasts for the Northeast and Midwest.

The South was remaining around freezing or higher Monday, but most sections were due to dip to the freezing level or lower Tuesday. As usual, the Rockies and Western Canada remained the frigid areas of the West (Edmonton, AB, was forecast to bottom out around zero Tuesday, according to Madison, WI-based Weather Central). But also as usual, the rest of the western region was likely to see merely cold to chilly conditions.

Despite the cold and snow predictions for much of the East, no pipelines had any significant related constraints on transportation.

Could it be the groundhog was right (again)? The National Weather Service’s six- to 10-day forecast posted Sunday afternoon calls for below-normal temperatures virtually everywhere (except the northern tip of Maine) south and east of a line from the southeastern end of California roughly northeastward through central Colorado into northern Minnesota. The deepest variations below normal were expected in the Eastern Seaboard states from southern New York through Florida and extending in the South through southeast Texas.

A utility buyer in the upper South confirmed that the winter weather was extending into his region, saying Monday afternoon, “We’re having a snowstorm here.” It was bad enough that he planned to leave the office early before driving got more hazardous, and his staffers largely were buying gas from home-based personal computers.

His company had gone into February without any baseload contracts, intending to rely on storage and long-term deals, but heating load had gotten heavy enough to require buying spot gas, he said. It had hoped to get by without dipping into the spot market, he said, but the key word in that respect was “if” it got cold enough to spur extra demand, which it had.

A Rockies producer said he wasn’t sure, but his area “may” start to warm up as high as freezing Tuesday. He was pleased to see the reopening of Rockies Express deliveries through the Clarington (OH) Hub area, noting that CIG basis Monday was about 21 cents below Henry Hub, “and we’re content with that.”

According to the Baker Hughes Rotary Rig Count, another 17 rigs joined the search for natural gas in the U.S. during the week ending Feb. 5, increasing the total to 878. One rig departed from the Gulf of Mexico, but that was well more than offset by an onshore addition of 18. Baker Hughes said its latest tally was up 12% from a month ago but 20% less than the year-earlier count.

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