It likely will last only a few days before starting to diminish again, but heating load is building from the Midwest through a wide snowy swath of the Rockies, and the South and Northeast can expect to feel a similar chill as the weekend approaches. The result was a second day of firming cash quotes at nearly all points.

A couple of locations that fell a couple of cents (Oklahoma intrastate OGT and Florida Gas Zone 3) were left out of quotes that ranged from flat to about 30 cents higher everywhere else. The Northeast had the lion’s share of gains that registered in double digits.

The ongoing scramble for Marcellus Shale gas to get aboard Tennessee’s Line 300 in Zone 4 continued to force discounted offers that ran as low as 75 cents Tuesday.

As they began their three-day countdown to expiration, November futures reverted to supporting the next-day cash market with a rebound of 5.4 cents (see related story).

Although a snowstorm in southern Wyoming and Colorado was due to taper from north to south late Tuesday, temperatures would be up to 30 degrees below average Wednesday in Colorado, The Weather Channel (TWC) said. Meanwhile, temperatures were expected to plunge in parts of the Midwest, with Chicago going from a fairly pleasant high around 73 Tuesday to just above 50 Wednesday, according to the Weather Underground forecasting service. Also, some western sections of the Midwest near the Colorado border could see a “slushy” inch or two of snow, TWC said.

Significantly lower temperatures are due in the Northeast by Thursday, when they could be joined by snowfall from western and northern Pennsylvania into much of New England. The transition to more seasonably cool mid-fall conditions will take a bit longer in the South, but even the Houston area can expect a sub-60 high Friday with a chilly low in the mid 40s.

Hurricane Rina was upgraded to Category Two and was expected to reach major hurricane status (Category Three or greater) soon, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Tuesday. But any potential menace to Gulf of Mexico production remained unlikely as Rina’s projected tracking continued to touch the northeastern edge of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula prior to a northeast swing toward western Cuba. A surface trough over the south-central Caribbean Sea had slightly better — but still low (20%) — odds of becoming a tropical cyclone within 48 hours, NHC said.

A Midcontinent producer said central Oklahoma might break its record high of 87 for the date Tuesday, but a cold front moving through from Wednesday evening through Thursday and Friday would cause the area to go from above-normal cooling degree days to above-normal heating degree days in a period of only 24-48 hours. It’s just “that time of the year!” he exclaimed.

The producer said he saw November baseload being traded on Panhandle Eastern in the upper $3.40s Tuesday, accompanied by basis deals at minus 17.5 cents. He added that natural gas seemed to be playing a little catch-up with higher crude oil prices as the industry heads into winter.

IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) said November bidweek deals began with nearly 200,000 MMBtu of Chicago citygate gas changing hands at an average in the mid $3.80s, or about 7 cents below NGI‘s October index of $3.92. El Paso’s San Juan-Blanco pool was seeing an even larger decline, with its initial $3.39 ICE average down 13 cents from the $3.52 October index.

IAF Advisors analyst Kyle Cooper anticipates an 87 Bcf injection being reported for the week ending Oct. 21. Stephen Smith of Stephen Smith Energy Associates is looking for a build of 85 Bcf, which he said was down slightly from his original estimate of 86 Bcf.

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