Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures rose sharply on Tuesday, one day after sliding to the lowest level since November as forecasts called for mostly warmer-than-normal weather in key regions across the U.S. for the rest of the winter.
Natural gas for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped 8.4 cents, or around 2.8%, to $3.135 per million British thermal units by 8:45AM ET (13:45GMT), after losing 1.3 cents, or 0.4%, a day earlier.
Futures touched $3.006 on Monday, a level not seen since November 25.
Prices of the heating fuel are down almost 17% so far this year as forecasts for warm winter weather weighed on heating demand expectations.
Natural gas markets have been volatile in recent weeks, changing course rapidly in response to shifting outlooks in short-term weather patterns.
About half of U.S. homes use natural gas for heating.
Meanwhile, market participants looked ahead to weekly storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a draw in a range between 151 and 161 billion cubic feet in the week ended February 3.
That compares with a withdrawal of 87 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, 70 billion a year earlier and a five-year average drop of 138 billion cubic feet.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.711 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 9.8% lower than levels at this time a year ago and within the five-year average for this time of year.