It usually happens every year at this time, and this year is no exception. Prices at the pump are on the way up.
"The projections are that they will be going up,” Scott Bartle, field manager for AAA, said.
It's not exactly what you want to hear when you're talking about gas prices.
"Historically, between now and Memorial Day they, do go up anywhere between 35 and 70 cents,” Bartle said.
Prices at the pump will always exist on a sliding scale. Sometimes it's good news, and sometimes it hits you right in the wallet.
"Multiple reasons create that. One is that this is the time that most of the refineries are taking down their equipment. Cleaning it all and preparing to produce summer gas, which is also more expensive to produce,” he continued.
Summer gas is more costly to produce than the winter blend due to the additives that go into it, but there is good reason behind it.
"Because of emissions during the winter versus the summer, hotter weather, they try and change the way that the gas is formulated so it's less of an impact on the environment. I guess less carbon footprint,” Bartle said.
Historically, once peak season hits in late spring, price hikes start to plateau.
"May, usually May 28 is about the time that we start to see things stabilize. Summer gas is out then, and prices will be a little bit more stable,” Bartle said.
So your next trip to fill up may cost a bit more, but we won't see it jump by 70 cents a gallon overnight.
"I don't see it changing dramatic, but we could see right off the bat 10- to 15-cent, even 20-cent increases over the next couple weeks, and then depending on how the gas is used and how much usage is out there, we could see the gases go up from there,” he said.