Investing.com - Natural gas futures fell for the third day in a row on Wednesday, as weather forecasting models continued to predict that milder temperatures will cover the eastern part of the United States by the second week of June.
That will likely limit early summer cooling demand for the fuel.
Front-month U.S. natural gas futures slumped 2.7 cents, or around 1%, to $2.876 per million British thermal units (btu) by 9:30AM ET (1330GMT), sitting around its lowest since May 22.
Natural gas prices lost 6.0 cents, or 2.0%, in the last session.
Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on early summer cooling demand.
Meanwhile, market participants looked ahead to this week's storage data due on Thursday. Analysts forecast an increase in a range between 92 and 102 billion cubic feet (bcf) for the week ended May 25.
That compares with a build of 91 bcf in the preceding week, an increase of 81 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 97 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 1.629 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That figure is 804 bcf, or around 33.0%, lower than levels at this time a year ago, and 499 bcf, or roughly 23.4%, below the five-year average for this time of year.