Natural gas futures surged higher early Monday as traders assessed a strengthening outlook for September heat, though a looming tropical cyclone threatened to temper demand.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The September Nymex contract was up 13.2 cents to $2.672/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET. October was up 14.1 cents to $2.798.

Both the European and American models added cooling degree days to the outlook over the weekend, advertising hotter trends for next week, according to NatGasWeather.

“The weather data is quite hot versus normal” for next Monday through Sept. 10, the firm said. This comes as estimates for this week’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report have declined following the most recent 18 Bcf injection, which surprised to the bullish side of expectations, NatGasWeather...