Severe winter weather across large portions of the country, natural gas prices increasing

In-brief analysis

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration and Natural Gas Intelligence

Natural gas daily spot prices at the benchmark Henry Hub rose sharply over the past week, reaching nearly $8.15 per million British thermal units on January 22 as colder weather increased demand for space heating across the country. Higher wholesale natural gas prices generally contribute to higher wholesale electricity prices.

This weekend, much of the country is expected to experience severe winter weather. When cold weather hits, especially over a large swath of the country, we often see increased energy demand for space heating, in turn raising demand for both electricity and natural gas. The federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued Key Messages for Late January Extreme Cold on Thursday January 22, 2026, and winter storm alerts explaining an Arctic front will result in "frigid temperatures to the eastern two-thirds of the U.S." this weekend.

We have many resources to provide information about how these events can affect the market.

• Hourly Electric Grid Monitor provides hourly data on the electricity grid in the Lower 48 states, including electricity generation by energy source, electricity demand, interchanges, and grid operators' day-ahead demand forecasts.
• Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR) provides information on the amount of natural gas held in underground inventories in the Lower 48 states. The current data show inventories in mid-January were about 6% more than the previous five-year average. The WNGSR edition in the first week of February will show how much natural gas was withdrawn from storage in advance of the cold snap.
• Natural Gas Storage Dashboard provides regional and Lower 48 states inventories and temperature maps.
• Wholesale energy prices show the prior business day's wholesale retail prices for selected crude oil, gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and regional electricity prices.
• Weekly Petroleum Status Report provides a weekly snapshot of supply and demand information for petroleum fuels such as crude oil, motor gasoline, distillate fuel oil, jet fuel, residual fuel, propane, and other petroleum products.
• New England Dashboard compiles data from our data products and third-party sources to provide near real-time information for key energy prices and demand metrics.
• Winter Fuels Outlook tracks various forms of winter heating, showing demand and forecasted consumer expenditures by fuel.

Principal contributors: Kimberly Peterson, Andrew Iraola

Tags: weather, natural gas, prices