Gainesville saw the second highest gas price average in the state this past week at $2.77 a gallon, though prices at the pump are currently unaffected by Hurricane Florence.
AAA reports prices increased last week but declined Sunday. Gainesville's prices fell just cents behind Atlanta at $2.79, and beat Savannah's prices at $2.71.
The agency said Florence has yet to directly impact prices as it is poised to strike the east coast.
"When a major storm approaches the U.S., gasoline markets can be just as unpredictable as the storm itself," said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA. "It's unclear what, if any impact Hurricane Florence will have on prices at the pump outside the impacted area. Although there are no crude/gasoline refineries in the "cone of uncertainty", a major storm like this can threaten the regional supply chain, which can lead to rising prices.
Sunday's state average of $2.73 per gallon is 3 cents more than this time last week, 4 cents less than last month, and 1-cent less than this time last year.
The least expensive gas price averages in the state are in Catoosa-Dade-Walker at $2.58 and Warner Robins at $2.60.
GasBuddy.com reported similar numbers, with their research showing gas prices in Georgia rising 2.8 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.67 a gallon Sunday. That's according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 5,883 stations in Georgia. "Last week saw a brief and fairly tame rise in the national average, brought on mainly by a select few states where gas prices tend to be volatile. Overall, it was a mostly stable week with some up and down movement state-by-state, but now we await the changeover to winter gasoline that happens this Saturday for some relief at the pump," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. "While Hurricane Florence may pose fuel-related challenges for areas of the East Coast, there is little to no threat to refineries at this time and is thus unlikely to bring measurable impact to the national average price of gasoline, but could bring supply challenges to several states, depending on levels of evacuations and timing of them. Hurricane season aside, gasoline demand will likely drift lower nearly countrywide, putting some additional downward impact on prices in most communities over the next few weeks."
