U.S. natgas futures edge higher as forecasts trend cooler

NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Front-month U.S. natural gas futures edged higher early on Friday, backed by fairly cold forecasts for the eastern half of the country for the next two weeks that should force homeowners and businesses to crank up their heaters. Traders also noted that gas prices at current levels continued to draw support from some utilities opting to shun more-expensive coal for power generation. Hefty nuclear plant outages this week of nearly 16,000 megawatts were also boo