Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures edged higher for the second session in a row on Wednesday, hitting the strongest level since early February as traders continued to monitor shifting early-spring weather forecasts.
U.S. natural gas for May delivery rose to a daily peak of $3.231 per million British thermal units, a level not seen since February 1.
It was last at $3.229 by 9:00AM ET (13:00GMT), up 5.2 cents, or around 1.6%, after gaining 4.6 cents on Tuesday.
Weather systems will track across the country the next several days with rain, snow, and thunderstorms, but with limited cold air as they play out spring-like, according to forecasters at NatGasWeather.com.
There remains potential for a bit colder system from April 7 through the 10th and will be dependent on how a weather system tracking over the southern U.S. phases with a cold blast over the Midwest.
Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting forecasts on early-spring demand.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Nearly 50% of all U.S. households use gas for heating.
Meanwhile, market participants looked ahead to weekly storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a draw of 37 billion cubic feet in the week ended March 24.
That compares with a withdrawal of 150 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, a decline of 25 billion a year earlier and a five-year average drop of 27 billion cubic feet.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.092 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 16% lower than levels at this time a year ago but 12.7% above the five-year average for this time of year.