Snowy

A La Nina event off the west coast of South America, which brought brutally cold and snowy weather to a large part of the country last winter, is expected to again influence conditions this winter, prompting especially harsh temperatures and snowfall across the Midwest and Great Lakes region, while the Northeast can expect winter 2011-2012 to be somewhat less extreme than last year, according to forecasters at AccuWeather.com.

Most of the market continued to climb Thursday as cold and snowy conditions were forecast to spread in the north-central section of the U.S. Cash numbers also had a smidgen of support from a screen gain of 3 cents a day earlier.

Following a brutally cold and snowy Martin Luther King Day weekend for most of the U.S. and Canada, the forecast looked to be more of the same for the next couple of days before a moderate warm-up begins late this week. But despite the continuation of heavy heating load prices fell Tuesday at all points, including triple-digit plunges at Northeast citygates.

The storms were too far away to even have names, but their aftermath — an exceptionally snowy winter in northern British Columbia and Alberta — contributed to a slippage in Canadian natural gas supplies.

The storms were too far away to even have names, but their aftermath — an exceptionally snowy winter in northern British Columbia and Alberta — contributed to a slippage in Canadian natural gas supplies.

Prices were up at most points Friday as cold and snowy weather was expected to continue into the weekend in northern market areas and mountainous sections of the West, while a cold front in the heretofore mild South was giving a boost to overall heating load.

Whether it is winter’s last fling remains to be seen, but there’s enough cold and snowy weather in the Northeast and Midwest early in the week to keep prices ranging from flat to as much as a quarter higher in the East Monday. The West, where Rockies-area high temperatures were rising into the 50s and even to around 60, was flat to mildly softer, but saw no losses greater than several cents.

Old Man Winter is showing signs of surprising longevity for an aging senior citizen. The cold and sometimes snowy weather that had been around earlier in the week in the Rockies was leaving that region Friday but was showing up or expected in much of the East.

In most cases the cash market was giving back Tuesday about as much or more than it had realized in Monday’s gains. Losses ranged from minimal in the Rockies to about 40 cents or so. Those in the range of 10-25 cents were in the majority.