Major fluctuations in the latest weather models resulted in big swings in natural gas bidweek prices, with solid gains on the East Coast and out West. However, much of the country’s midsection posted hefty losses amid healthy storage levels, leaving NGI’s January Bidweek National Avg. down 2.5 cents from December 2020 bidweek to $2.695/MMBtu.

While just shy of the previous month’s average, the January 2021 bidweek average came in nearly 15.0 cents higher than year-ago levels and about 23.0 cents above the January Nymex gas futures contract’s $2.467 expiration.

Bidweek volatility was abundant as weather models made big moves to both the warmer and more recently, colder side for January. Coming back from the Christmas holiday, weather models “failed miserably” as they...