By Brendan Conway

How much natural gas did the U.S. burn during the polar vortex? Traders pushing the price of natural gas sharply higher this morning think A whole heck of a lot .

The 10:30 a.m. release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration  is expected to show a record utilities pulled a record 299 billion cubic feet of natural gas from storage in the week ending Jan. 10, reports Brett Philbin  of Dow Jones Newswires. Moreover, we may have another cold snap coming, Philbin reports:

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Were finding more, promise

In a research note, MDA Weather Services. a Gaithersburg, Md. forecaster, said its 11-to-15-day forecast shows that a second shot of polar air looks on tap to drop into the upper Midwest and again move eastward.

Such an outlook typically sends natural gas prices higher as nearly half of all U.S. households rely on the fuel as their primary heating source, according to EIA data.

The most actively traded natural-gas futures contract is jumping 3.4% this morning to $4.42. The big event Thursday is a closely watched gas inventory report. Anticipation for the report is pushing United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG ) ahead by 3.2%.

Traders are also sending leveraged ETFs on exaggerated moves. VelocityShares 3X Long Natural Gas ETN (UGAZ ) has surged 10% in early trading. Its bearish counterpart, VelocityShares 3X Long Natural Gas ETN (DGAZ ), just tripped the markets short-sale restriction. Its down by 10%.

Will the fervor keep up? Earlier in the week Morgan Stanleys commodity strategists predicted, Nope, not this year :

We are bearish 2014 natural gas prices. We expect supply growth to once again outpace demand in 2014. With significant pipeline and processing infrastructure coming online 4Q13-1H14, we see Utica/Marcellus production achieving significant gains as infrastructure de-bottlenecks the region. We also expect associated gas production increasing YoY on the back of stronger oil production. Gains in industrial gas demand, lower net imports, and minor coal retirements will partially offset the growth in production, but the gas market will need to rely on coal-to-gas switching to balance the market.

In other fast-trading natural-gas ETFs with cutesy ticker symbols, ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas ETF (BOIL ) is ahead by 6.4%. while ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas ETF  (KOLD ) is down 6%.

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Natural Gas: Nope, But Polar Vortex Still Set Record