15:07 20Jan2004 RTRS-Extreme cold expected in U.S. next 2 weeks

NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The United States east of the Rocky
Mountains will see extreme cold in the next three weeks with at least one
forecaster calling it the coldest in 25 years, meteorologists said on
Tuesday.
"In the next six to 10 days, it will be colder than normal north of a
line from Washington, D.C. to Denver," said Joe *******i of AccuWeather. "In
the next 15 to 20 days, everybody is extremely cold including freezes into
Florida and Texas.
"In the worst-case scenario, in much of the energy consuming areas of
the country, from the Rockies to New England, can look at the coldest 10- to
20-day periods since the winters of 1977 and 1978," *******i said.
Oil and heating oil prices were up partly on colder forecasts than last
Friday when the markets were last open, oil industry analysts said on
Tuesday. Heating oil futures were up 2.5 percent Tuesday morning, with crude
oil up 1.8 percent.
Natural gas futures were up 5.2 percent Tuesday, with the link to
weather more clear, said energy traders and analysts.
And forecasters agree.
"Everybody is waking up to this," *******i said of the extreme cold
forecasts for the next 10- to 15 days. "Natural gas is surging like crazy
this morning."
The National Weather Service is predicting that Friday the Midwest and
Northeast will have temperatures 8 F to 12 F below normal, with Jan. 27
still showing below normal temperatures for northern New England and with
temperatures near normal for New York City.
Forecaster Meteorlogix said the five-day outlook for the Northeast shows
up to 12 F below normal by Wednesday and up to 15F below normal by Saturday.
In the same time period, the Midwest will be up to 10 F below normal
Wednesday and up to 4 F below normal on Saturday.
The six- to 10-day forecast shows "below normal" temperatures for the
Northeast and northern part of the Midwest, Meteorlogix said on Tuesday.

Tuesday, 20 January 2004 15:07:29RTRS [nN20481445] {EN}ENDS