Natural gas futures settled nearly flat on Tuesday, but not before the March Nymex contract surged over the $3.00/MMBtu threshold. The prompt month reached an intraday high of $3.005 as the frigid air blanketing much of the eastern United States this week was seen continuing through at least the first half of the month.

Evening Markets

However, with the latest run of the European weather model erasing a decent chunk of projected demand, the March contract retreated back to a $2.845 settlement. April closed the day at $2.818.

Spot gas continued to strengthen, with prices nearing $15.000 in New England. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 44.5 cents to $3.750.

Weather models made huge changes to the colder side over the weekend and on Tuesday, continued updates added demand to the 15-day...