AAA: Gas prices still rising but could drop after holidays

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - You’ve probably have seen gas prices inch higher in recent weeks, which is a little unusual for this time of year.

The numbers tell the story. The average cost of gasoline in Alabama is $3.20 per gallon. That’s 33 cents higher per gallon in just one month.

“It’s kind of strange. It usually follows a pretty distinctive pattern where it goes down in the winter, up in the spring. It’s high during the summer and goes down in the fall, and that’s sort of the general pattern that we see from year to year, but we do have variations of that from time to time and of course this is one of those times,” said AAA spokesman Clay Ingram.

You can blame part of it on regional events in recent weeks, but nothing to be alarmed about for the long haul, according to Ingram.

“Because of some small issues. We had that hurricane along the Gulf Coast a few weeks back. They had to shut down production there or a couple of weeks. We had a small pipeline on the east coast that had to shut down for a couple of weeks,” said Ingram.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner many of you may be wondering whether those high gas prices will put a dent in travel. Well, not necessarily.

“Most people factor in a certain amount of gasoline expense for their holiday travel,” said Ingram.

For now the prices are where they are. They rise and they fall, par for the course of getting around.

Absent of any regional or worldwide catastrophe, Ingram estimates we should see gas prices drop around January or February.

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