Highest gas prices in 7 years this holiday weekend: GasBuddy

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Labor Day weekend is expected to bring the highest gas prices in seven years, GasBuddy predicts.

Cincinnati’s gas prices already rose 6.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $2.98 per gallon as of Monday, according to Gas Buddy’s survey of more than 630 stations in the region.

Over the holiday weekend, it will likely cost $3.11 per gallon, about 90 cents more per gallon than last year, GasBuddy reports.

This summer has also seen the highest average gas prices since the summer of 2014.

Overall, however, gas prices in Cincinnati are still 3.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, according to GasBuddy.

Prices in Cincinnati crept up earlier this summer as travel increased with people taking summer vacations after the coronavirus pandemic squelched many trips last year.

COVID -19′s delta variant, however, drove a surge in cases again.

That, combined with schools returning to class, caused gas prices to slip again.

Now, due to Hurricane Ida causing widespread significant flooding in Louisiana, it could cost even more at the pumps.

More than 1 million customers were without power in Louisiana, and over 40,000 were in the dark in Mississippi, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks outages nationwide.

The flooding knocked out power to multiple gas refineries, keeping them out of commission earlier this week, though a growing number are now reporting they are getting some power back, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.

About 96% of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was temporarily shut down, the U.S. Department of Energy says in a Hurricane Ida update, citing the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2021 WXIX. All rights reserved.