The primary driver of natural gas prices during the winter is the weather with natural gas storage levels coming in second. Forecasters are predicting an El Niño weather pattern for winter 2023/2024. El Niño patterns typically occur at irregular intervals every 2–7 years. In general, El Niño causes the Pacific jet stream to move south and spread further east. During winter, this leads to wetter than usual conditions in the Southern U.S. and warmer and drier conditions in the North.