Weekly cash natural gas prices fell as demand stoked higher by Northeast storms and pipeline constraints were no match for the prevalence of unseasonably mild weather, while futures gained on outlooks for winter weather’s January arrival.

NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. for the Dec.18-22 period fell 5.5 cents to $2.335.

The January Nymex natural gas futures contract settled at $2.610/MMBtu at the close of the regular Friday session, up 3.8 cents day/day and above the prior week’s finish at $2.491.

The struggle was real for natural gas bulls attempting to hold onto gains amassed in a four-day winning streak that hit a wall Tuesday when revised forecasts erased some cooler, supportive weather.

Later in the week, a storage withdrawal that came in above market...