Unfazed by the tumultuous weather pattern circulating throughout much of the United States for the next week or so, natural gas futures closed Thursday with a whimper. A big bearish miss on the latest storage data sealed March Nymex futures’ fate early in the session, with the contract ultimately slipping 4.3 cents to $2.868/MMBtu. April dropped 4.3 cents to $2.836.

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Instead, cash prices stole the show on Thursday, and not in the way they often do this time of year. With freezing drizzle and light snow falling in the Midcontinent, next-day gas in the region soared as high as $100.000. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. surged $4.705 to $9.540.

Forecasters have been warning the coming week would result in the coldest weather the United States has experienced in years. The...