Blizzard warning: natural gas prices brace for volatile Sunday open

Investing.com

Sun, February 22, 2026 at 11:44 AM GMT+9 2 min read

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Investing.com – Natural gas (NG) traders are bracing for a volatile market opening this Sunday at 6:00 pm EST. A massive “bomb cyclone” is currently barreling toward the U.S. East Coast, bringing rare blizzard warnings to major cities like New York and Boston.

The storm is undergoing “bombogenesis,” a technical term for a storm that intensifies at lightning speed. With forecasts predicting up to two feet of snow and 50 mph winds, the sheer scale of the event is expected to drive a massive spike in heating demand across the country’s most populated regions.

Why the Sunday market open matters

When the natural gas market reopens Sunday evening, prices often “gap up” or jump higher if a major weather event has worsened over the weekend. Because millions of homes and businesses in the Northeast rely on natural gas for heat, a blizzard of this magnitude forces utilities to buy more fuel immediately.

Investors will be watching the opening price closely. If the storm stays on its current path, the sudden surge in demand could collide with limited supply. This often leads to a “weather premium,” where prices rise quickly to account for the freezing temperatures expected to last through the beginning of the week.

Heating demand vs. power outages

The main driver for higher prices is the extreme cold. When temperatures plummet, furnaces run non-stop, draining natural gas inventories faster than usual. For non-technical investors, this is a simple case of high demand meeting steady supply, which typically pushes the value of the commodity upward.

However, there is a secondary risk: power outages. If heavy snow and high winds knock out electricity for millions, some heating systems that require electric pumps might shut down. This can occasionally “cap” how high prices go, as a dark house doesn’t consume gas.

Despite this risk, the consensus heading into Sunday night is bullish. With multiple states under emergency alerts and travel warnings, the market is prioritizing the immediate need for heating fuel. Expect a fast-moving start to the trading week as the East Coast digs out from the snow.

_Reporting by Simon Mugo _

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