Tropical Storm Chris, which was pointed straight at the southern end of Florida (and potentially the Gulf of Mexico production area beyond), and widespread heat kept cash quotes moving higher Tuesday at all points except a flat Iroquois Zone 2. However, the gains were diminishing in size from Monday’s spikes, and a screen dive of 63.7 cents Tuesday will put negative pressure on the market Wednesday.

Only Tetco M-2 was able to register an increase of more than a dollar Tuesday. Otherwise, upticks ranged from about a quarter to a little more than 80 cents. Despite its flat performance, Iroquois Zone 2 still managed to average just above $10. Several other Northeast citygates joined it in $10-plus territory.

Tropical Storm Chris was christened early Tuesday, but posed no immediate threat to offshore producers from its position east of the northernmost Leeward Islands (the northern half of the island chain between Puerto Rico and Venezuela).

As of 5 p.m. EDT the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) “five-day cone” of tracking projections had Chris threading the needle between the Caribbean islands with little direct land contact, which would allow the storm to keep strengthening with little degradation along the way. If the projection proves accurate, the NHC expects Chris to be a little north of Cuba between the island nation and the Florida Keys by early Sunday afternoon.

NHC said Air Force reconnaissance aircraft reported that the maximum sustained winds in Chris had increased to nearly 60 mph. It takes winds of 74 mph or greater to qualify as hurricane force on the Saffir-Simpson scale (https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml).

At 5 p.m. AST the center of Chris was about 55 miles northeast of Antigua and moving to the west-northwest at nearly 10 mph. It was expected to pass near or over the northernmost Leeward Islands Tuesday night and early Wednesday.

All-time heat records could be challenged Wednesday at some locations in the Northeast Wednesday, according to The Weather Channel. tomorrow. In some locations, all-time records could be challenged. It will be a dangerous time, with heat indexes perhaps hitting 115-120 degrees in the hottest spots. A cold front will be bringing some relief from severely hot weather to the Upper Midwest, but highs in the 90s are expected to prevail in the Lower Midwest and southeastern Kansas, TWC said.

It will be mid-summer business as usual for the South — very hot and humid with some highs reaching the low 100s. Things have cooled down considerably since last week in the higher Rockies, Pacific Northwest and along the Pacific Coast. However, most of the rest of the West will see temperatures reaching the 80s, 90s and 100s.

Hot weather alerts continued to be issued Tuesday by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator and other power grids (see story in Power Market Today).

A Midcontinent producer said that besides profit-taking, the screen plunged because one morning forecast had Chris likely to dissipate over the Bahamas. There are still a lot of variables possible for the storm path. Late cash prices came down as the futures weakness started surfacing, he said. For example, he reported making an early Northern Natural-demarc sale at $8.20, but a late deal was for $7.75.

The producer said there was a lot of power generation demand in Midwest for Wednesday gas, but a small cooldown will be starting in the region Thursday. Even then, temperatures will still be pretty high, he added. He thinks buyers who got burned by making purchases early Tuesday will be considerably more cautious in Wednesday’s market.

He expects Tuesday’s futures plunge to soften much of the cash market Wednesday, but thinks some patches of firmness are possible because of the continuing hot weather in many areas. Also, “sellers will be reluctant [to let prices fall much] because they’re thinking, ‘It’s still hot,'” he said. But overall, expect a net down day, he added.

The National Weather Service expects above normal temperatures to continue for most of the U.S. during the Aug. 7-11 workweek. Its six-to-10-day forecast issued Tuesday calls for above normal readings everywhere between two lines running southeastward from the western end of New York state through southern Maryland and from the western border of Montana to South Texas. It also expects similar conditions for a small sliver along the southernmost California coast. Below normal temperatures are in the forecast for the Pacific Northwest through Northern California and most of northern Nevada, and for New England along with northeast New York.

Ron Denhardt of Strategic Energy & Economic Research projected a storage build of 12 Bcf for the week ending July 28.

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