Natural gas futures were trading slightly higher early Tuesday as forecasters continued to point to a potential shift toward colder temperatures around the middle of the month. The January Nymex contract was up 1.1 cents to $2.893/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The European weather model trended milder overnight by showing less cold moving into the United States this weekend and next week, bringing it into better agreement with American modeling, according to NatGasWeather.

The pattern for this week through Dec. 13 “just isn’t as cold as needed without colder trends,” the firm said.

However, “we continue to see a potential major pattern shift around Dec. 14-16 to allow better opportunities for stronger cold shots into the U.S.,” NatGasWeather said. “This needs...