After facing relentless selling pressure in recent sessions, natural gas futures pared some of those losses early Thursday as overnight weather models were seen shifting somewhat cooler.

The March Nymex contract was up 2.9 cents to $1.638/MMBtu as of 8:38 a.m. ET.

The front month on Wednesday probed as low as $1.590, testing a key technical support level at $1.61, according to EBW Analytics Group analyst Eli Rubin.

The outcome of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 10:30 a.m. ET storage report “could reinforce support — or deepen the front month contract’s losses,” Rubin said.

Pre-report estimates for the latest EIA report show the market anticipating a net withdrawal much lighter than the five-year average for the week ended Feb. 9.

The median...