Natural gas jumps 16% daily on cold weather forecast for January in Eastern U.S.

Natural gas futures prices in the U.S. jumped 16% overnight on weather forecasts for a cold wave in the eastern part of the U.S. in January of the new year.

The closing price of natural gas futures for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was $3.936 per million BTU, up 16% from the previous session's close.

This is the biggest daily gain since 2012, when the commodity futures trading began, Bloomberg said.

The gains soared to 24% at one point during the day, rising to $4.2 per million BTU.

The U.S. Meteorological Administration predicts that temperatures in the eastern and central U.S. will fall below normal in January as jets push down the cold air in the Arctic, with heavy snow in early January and a cold spell reaching its peak in mid-January.