Natural gas prices hit $6 for first time since 2022 as massive winter storm sweeps U.S.

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A worker shovels snow during a winter storm in Lower Manhattan in New York, US, on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. A colossal winter storm reached the US East Coast Sunday morning after dropping ice and snow across much of the nation, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power and causing a wave of flight cancellations that may last for days.

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U.S. natural gas prices surged above $6 for the first time since late 2022 on Monday as a huge winter storm swept across the country, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and forcing mass flight cancellations.

Natural gas futures for February delivery traded 18.6% higher, or 98 cents, to $6.26 per million British thermal units at 9:13 a.m. London time (4:13 a.m. ET), notching a new 52-week high.

It is the first time the contract, which is up around 68% year-to-date, has climbed above the $6 level since Dec. 2022, when European demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas soared following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier in the year.

More than 822,000 customers were left without power in the wake of a massive winter storm late Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us, which collects real-time power outage data from utilities nationwide.

The big freeze, known as Winter Storm Fern, was forecast to bring widespread heavy snow and “catastrophic ice accumulations” from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), affecting at least 180 million people in 37 states.

Wind chills as low as -50 degrees Fahrenheit (-45.56 degrees Celsius) will persist across the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. this week, the NWS said in a social media post on Sunday, with temperatures far below normal expected to continue into early February.

The extreme cold has been blamed for the deaths of seven people nationwide, NBC News reported, citing local officials.

More than 12,500 flights were canceled in the U.S. on Sunday, FlightAware reported, with a further 3,965 canceled so far on Monday. Delta Air Lines, which had previously urged travelers to rebook flights, said Sunday that it intended to operate a reduced schedule as icy conditions disrupted operations.

Architect of the Capitol grounds crews clear snow from the East Front of the U.S. Capitol building as Winter Storm Fern dumps snow and sleet on the Washington area on Sunday, January 25, 2026.

Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Energy on Monday issued two emergency orders to mitigate blackouts in New England and Texas, seeking to keep grids stable and minimize the risk of blackouts.

“As Winter Storm Fern brings extreme cold and dangerous conditions across the country, maintaining affordable, reliable, and secure power is non-negotiable,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a statement on Monday.

Power outages are estimated to cost the U.S. about $44 billion per year, according to data from the DOE’s National Laboratories.