--- title: Heat Waves Are Causing Gas Prices to Spike description: The average gallon of now gas costs $3.82 — an increase of 29 cents from one month ago — due in large part to recent heat waves. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 602 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2023-08-04T12:39:55.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T15:05:35.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News word_count: 394 canonical: https://money.com/gas-prices-summer-heat-waves/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Person's hand pumping gas with illustrative lines on top depicting heat](https://img.money.com/2023/08/News-Why-Gas-Prices-Up-Again-Blame-Heat.jpg?crop=0px%2C132px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) Gas prices are spiking, and the national average has reached a nine-month high as extreme heat impacts some of the country’s refineries. In the U.S., the average gallon of gas costs $3.82, which is an increase of 29 cents from the price one month ago, according to the auto club AAA. Experts say the [cost of gas](https://money.com/how-to-save-money-on-gas/) is surging because heat waves in states like Texas and Louisiana have disrupted refinery operations, causing outages. When refineries that supply gasoline aren't producing at full steam, prices typically rise. Gas prices were in a “months-long slumber” prior to this point, according to AAA, hovering around $3.50 from May to early July without much volatility. Now, heat-related refinery problems combined with higher oil prices and elevated summer driving demand are contributing to another rise. The average price of gas is back above $5 per gallon in California, and seven other states have average prices above $4. Even with the latest jump in pump prices, however, the national average is still below the August 2022 level of $4.16 when [gas prices were coming down](https://money.com/why-gas-prices-going-down-2022/) from the all-time high in June that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ## Where gas prices are heading next Gas prices are rising at the “fastest pace in over a year,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, [said in a report](https://www.gasbuddy.com/go/gas-prices-surge-as-heat-hits-refinery-output) earlier this week. But what's down the pipeline? Experts say there are several reasons for concern, including the threat of hurricanes taking refineries offline in the coming months and global pressures on oil prices. The price of [crude oil](https://money.com/gas-prices-rise-opec-oil-cuts/), which accounts for about half of what you as a consumer pay for a gallon of gas, just reached its highest level since April and was trading at around $82 per barrel on Thursday, according to the West Texas Intermediate measure. Oil prices rose on Thursday after Saudi Arabia [extended an oil production cut](https://apnews.com/article/saudi-arabia-oil-production-cut-23c6b522ba9ba0e0a9e10211f991f714) by another month, which will further limit supply. "As we get ever closer to the peak of hurricane season, any new issues could easily push the national average over $4 per gallon for the first time in 2023. Drivers may want to brace for potentially higher prices yet,” De Haan said. [8 Best Car Loan Rates of 2023](https://money.com/best-auto-loan-rates/) [This Map Shows Where Drivers Are Paying the Highest Gas Taxes](https://money.com/gas-taxes-by-state-map/) [How to Save Money on Gas](https://money.com/how-to-save-money-on-gas/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-summer-heat-waves/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gas Prices", "item": "https://money.com/gas-prices/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Heat Waves Are Causing Gas Prices to Spike" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-summer-heat-waves/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gas-prices-summer-heat-waves/", "name": "Heat Waves Are Causing Gas Prices to Spike", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-08-04T12:39:55.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-summer-heat-waves/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-summer-heat-waves/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T15:05:35.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Heat Waves Are Causing Gas Prices to Spike", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/08/News-Why-Gas-Prices-Up-Again-Blame-Heat.jpg?crop=0px%2C132px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-Why-Gas-Prices-Up-Again-Blame-Heat" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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