Natural gas demand was up but changing last winter as North America—or a lot of it anyway—slogged through another frigid cold season. Some burner tips were alight overtime while others gathered dust. Thank the polar vortex once again.

The extended cold trend last winter is expected to leave the nation with lower-thanaverage gas storage levels as spring ends and the snow melts.

The gas storage draw jumped in early March, according to EIA numbers. Gas in storage fell to 1.71 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), down nearly 12% in one week as gas transmission systems sucked 228 Bcf out to keep pipelines full. That easily exceeded analysts’ average projection of a 224 Bcf weekly draw.

The bulk of that heavy draw on gas in storage was in the East while the comparatively balmy West little. The big change came to the south.

“The West South Central—the nation’s biggest consumer of natgas by region—joined the East’s winter festivities last week,” Global Hunter Securities said in its weekly gas storage update for early March. It noted the nation’s biggest gas producing region consumed a high 91 Bcf of gas during the period. Global Hunter’s in-house draw from storage estimate was 231 Bcf.

“If the West South Central trends below normal into mid-April—and this is becoming more likely—then there is a chance for final seasonal storage to end closer to 1.3 Tcf,” Global Hunter added. That would place the gas storage level on the low end of the five-year moving average as winter thaws into spring.

“The West South Central contributed greatly to fuel consumption last week, generating 194 heating degree days, which was 108 degree days above normal,” Global Hunter added. “We note that last winter had substantial early and continued involvement from the West South Central, thus explaining much of why natgas supplies were reduced so quickly. The West South Central represents 22.6% of Lower 48 natgas consumption, based on state and regional averages over the last 12 months.”

Meanwhile west of the Rockies, many furnaces sat cold for much of last winter. Both the U.S. and Canada have enjoyed a very mild and dry winter, according to AccuWeather, the private forecasting service based in State College, Pa.

“While residents in the East battled against the Arctic chill and relentless snow and ice, much of the western U.S. saw warmer weather than usual,” AccuWeather said in a report. “Areas of the Pacific Northwest had the early signs of spring in late February as cherry blossoms began to bloom weeks early in parts of Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle.”

The weather forecaster went on to point out how this weather dichotomy has impacted gas demand.

“While natural gas consumption has remained relatively steady across the nation from the start of the new year to late February, there has been a noticeable difference between the eastern and western United States due to the ongoing deep freeze in the East and warmth surging across the West.

“The frigid air that has gripped much of the eastern U.S. from Jan. 1 to Feb. 20 helped to boost natural gas consumption 4% over last year for the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest” according to EIA, it added. And the winter of 2013 to 2014 was a dandy for much of the country.

“Long-standing temperature records tumbled east of the Rockies, and cumulative heating-degree days from Jan. 1 through Feb. 20 equaled 2,220, 11% more than normal,” according to EIA.

A heating degree day is a standard measure of how cold a location is over a period of time relative to a base temperature, usually 65 F. In order to determine the average for a day, the sum of the maximum temperature and lowest temperature of the day is divided by two and compared to the base temperature, Dave Dombek, AccuWeather.com meteorologist Dave Dombek explained.

AccuWeather noted seven western states—California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming—had Januarys that ranked among the 10 warmest on record for each state. And the warm trend has hung on.

East of the Rockies, things are far different.

“Though it is unusual for a polar vortex to play a major role in two consecutive winters, the polar vortex has had a greater influence than usual for the 2014 to 2015 winter season, bringing record cold to the Midwest and East yet again,” AccuWeather reported. “Due to the increased Arctic air, record low temperatures were shattered in Chicago, New York City and from Washington, D.C., to Orlando, Fla., this year.

“Because the polar vortex became stronger and moved farther south in late January, it caused cold to intensify in the Midwest and East and drought to build in California and the West,” the report added. Boston and parts of New England have had all-time record snowfalls.

The forecasting service noted that its long-range winter forecast, issued in October 2014, “pinpointed the return of brutal cold for these areas months in advance.”

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