Natural gas prices surged to nearly a three-week high after forecasts grew colder, ramping expectations for heating demand coming in the first week of spring. Natural gas for March delivery settled up 13.9 cents, or 5.1%, at $2.855 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It is the highest settlement since Feb. 25 and the largest percentage gains in one day since Jan. 14. A high pressure front from Canada is likely to send an unseasonably cold burst of air into the Great Lakes and Northeast, including some of the country’s biggest heating markets, according to WSI in Andover, Mass. Half of U.S. homes use natural gas for heating fuel, and they may need more of it in the last two weeks of March than previously expected. “Everyone was telling you that the weather is getting warmer, warmer, warmer, […]