* Withdrawal estimates ranged from 155 bcf to 195 bcf
* Median draw in the Reuters poll was 172 bcf (Adds weather data, background, table)
NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas inventory levels on average are expected to fall by 171 billion cubic feet when weekly U.S. Energy Information Administration data are released early Thursday, after another cold week kicked up heating demand.
In the weekly Reuters survey of 26 industry traders and analysts, withdrawal estimates for the week ended Jan. 21 ranged from 155 bcf to 195 bcf.
Storage fell an adjusted 109 bcf for the same week last year. The five-year average decline for that week is 152 bcf.
The median draw in the survey was 172 bcf.
The EIA storage report will be issued Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there were 212 heating degree days last week, 29 warmer than the previous week but three colder than normal and 49 colder than the same week last year.
Degree days, a measure of departure in the mean daily temperature from 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 Celsius), are used to reflect demand for energy to heat or cool homes and businesses.
In last week's report, for the week ended Jan. 14, overall storage fell 243 bcf, above the Reuters estimate of 225 bcf and well above the five-year average for that week of 133 bcf but slightly below the year-ago slide of 248 bcf.
Total domestic gas inventories slipped to 2.716 tcf after peaking at an all-time high of 3.840 tcf in early November.
(Storage graphic: https://link.reuters.com/hut82k)
The weekly draw left stocks at a 74 bcf, or 3 percent, surplus to last year, and sharply slashed the excess to the five-year average by 110 bcf to just 51 bcf, or about 2 percent above average.
Eastern storage slid 91 bcf in the last report but held at about 3 percent below last year's levels.
Consuming Region West storage, which fell 26 bcf for the week, slipped to about 9 percent below the same year-ago week.
Inventories in the Producing Region lost 91 bcf but edged up to about 17 percent above the same week in 2010.
A total draw Thursday at the Reuters survey estimate would cut the storage surplus to last year by 62 bcf to 12 bcf and trim the surplus to the five-year average by 19 bcf to about 32 bcf, still about 1 percent above average.
In the last four reports, total stocks fell 652 bcf, or about 163 bcf per week, versus a 777 bcf adjusted drop for the same one-month period last year and a 439-bcf five-year average decline for that period.
NOAA said it expected 217 heating degree days this week, 11 colder than normal and 33 colder than the same year-ago week.
Early withdrawal estimates for next week's EIA report range from 190 bcf to 225 bcf versus a year-ago drop of 111 bcf and a five-year average decline for that week of about 165 bcf.
If drawdowns for the rest of winter match the five-year average pace, inventories will end the heating season at 1.618 tcf, below the record for end-winter storage of 1.695 tcf set in 2006 but still about 3 percent above average.