Moderating late-February weather forecasts in some regions, the prior-day fall of 21.4 cents by March futures and the ever-present comfort level of ample storage inventories combined to drive cast prices lower across the board Friday. The usual weekend drop of industrial load was an additional bearish factor.

Despite what may seem like a never-ending winter to some, especially residents of the Midwest, temperatures are continuing to moderate slightly in much of the South and a few other areas.

Weekend prices dropped by substantial double-digit amounts at all points, with losses ranging from about 20 cents to the 80-cent area. Other than the Florida citygate handily leading all other declines, losses topped out around 40 cents in the rest of the market.

March futures fell again, by 12.8 cents to $5.044 (see related story), but the cash market’s major softness left mostly Midwest and Northeast citygates still commanding significant premiums to the prompt-month contract Friday after a large majority of points had been well above it Thursday.

The Midwest can expect little relief in the near future from lows in the teens and low 20s. The Weather Channel (TWC) said a “fizzling weak storm” would die Saturday in the southern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley with only a little very light snow and rain, but later that day another storm arriving from the Southwest would bring a wintry mix of snow and cold rain from the central Plains to Missouri.

Although conditions would remain fairly cold in the Northeast, weekend highs were expected to be average or even above average for this time of year from Maine through Virginia, TWC said.

A storm in the West was expected to be mostly rainy except for snow in the mountain areas.

Despite Florida citygate numbers plunging again, Florida Gas Transmission made it nearly two weeks straight Friday on an Overage Alert Day for market-area customers.

After signaling Thursday that it expected excess linepack Saturday, PG&E said Friday linepack was likely to stay well with its target range through the weekend.

It was snowing again Friday, and the local forecast indicated no temperatures higher than freezing for at least the next 10 days, a Midwestern utility buyer said, adding that mid-March is about the earliest his area can hope for a significant thawing-out period. At least the extensive frigid conditions have been good for his utility’s business, he said; “we’re moving a lot of gas.

The buyer was not surprised by continuing price softness, noting there was “still a ton [of gas] in storage” and weather overall is not as cold as forecasts had indicated prior to the Presidents Day holiday weekend.

He joked that his company was “thinking of hiring a sniper to take out the groundhog next year” before it can predict a prolonged winter like the one the nation has experienced this year.

A Florida utility buyer said Florida Gas Transmission may have set a record for Overage Alert Days (OAD) during winter months with one that extends back to Feb. 8, but he wouldn’t be surprised at all if the OAD got lifted Saturday. He said the air conditioning system for his office had actually kicked into action Friday, indicating that heating load in the Sunshine State was beginning to shift to minor cooling load.

A Midcontinent producer recalled selling NGPL-TexOk gas three years ago for about $2.50 more than in the pipeline’s Midcontinent zone, which prompted his company to buy Midcontinent supplies to fulfill TexOk sales. Now there’s very little price separation between the two zones, he said, saying that the advent of service on the Midcontinent Express and Gulf Crossing pipelines in the interim had “wrecked the premium.” It’s just another indication that one can’t justify current trading strategies with historical numbers, he said.

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