Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures edged higher on Monday, starting the week with gains after the latest U.S. weather model called for warm temperatures over the next two weeks, which should increase cooling demand during that time.
U.S. natural gas for July delivery was at $3.078 per million British thermal units by 9:15AM ET (1315GMT), up 4.0 cents, or around 1.3%.
Prices of the fuel rose on Friday to notch a second-straight gain and log an increase of 1.3% for the week.
Warm to hot conditions will dominate the eastern half of the U.S. through June 17, as strong high pressure continues to spread.
Over the West, an unseasonably cold weather systems will bring heavy showers, including high elevation snowfall.
Late in the week, modest cooling will spill across the Northwest and Northeast, while the rest of the country remains very warm to hot.
Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on spring heating demand.
Gas use typically hits a seasonal low with spring's mild temperatures, before warmer weather increases demand for gas-fired electricity generation to power air conditioning.
Nearly 50% of all U.S. households use gas for heating.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.631 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 11.2% lower than levels at this time a year ago but 9.0% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Market participants looked ahead to weekly storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a build in a range between 79 and 89 billion cubic feet in the week ended June 9.
That compares with a gain of 106 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, an increase of 69 billion a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 87 billion cubic feet.