It was a slaughterhouse at the front of the natural gas strip today, with the February contract settling almost 13% lower from its Friday settle. 

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Weaker cash prices certainly played a role, as traders were looking for cash to provide some strength for the market and instead it led the way lower this morning. 

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The result was by far the most losses at the front of the strip on the day. 

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The February/March spread set a new low on the day with such February-concentrated selling. 

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This pulled the G/H spread right back into the historical range. 

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Much of the cash weakness today appeared to be due to looser balances. We outlined these looser balances for clients today in our Note of the Day and again in our live chat, where we looked at a large recent dip in LNG exports. 

We also outlined how we expect weather model guidance to trend through the coming week in our flagship Natural Gas Weekly Update, and observed Climate Prediction Center forecasts tick warmer again this afternoon for Week 2.