Warm January saved crippled natural gas supply; hurricanes left nation at crisis point

HOUSTON -- American consumers are paying for the most expensive winter on record. But consider how much worse it might have been.

When hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the heart of the nation's offshore energy-producing region last year, natural gas experts feared the worst -- record gas prices and supply shortages.

December blew in cold. Prices soared.

Then came the warmest January since at least 1934. Cherry trees budded in Virginia; daffodils began to emerge in the nation's capital.

And gas supplies the last week of January stood at their highest level in 17 years, the federal government reported last week.

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