As updated weather models raised the prospect of intense winter chills reaching key markets later this month, natural gas futures were trading sharply higher early Monday. The February Nymex contract was up 24.0 cents to $4.156/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET. March was trading 18.5 cents higher to $3.911.

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In the most recent models heading into Monday’s trading, the pattern starting around Jan. 20 was “very impressive” in the amount of cold advertised, according to Bespoke Weather Services.

Models showed “a deep trough diving into the central/eastern U.S., easily the strongest modeled pattern we have seen this winter in terms of the ensemble output,” Bespoke said.

The question will be whether this modeled cold progresses forward in the forecast, the firm said.

“Pattern signals do suggest colder risks into the final third of the month, before hinting at a possible return of the more classic La Nia base state into February,” Bespoke said.