Gas Prices Rising Fast in the Hudson Valley

Gas prices continue to rise, and the prognosis is they'll keep going in 2017.

Motorists will shell out $52 billion more over the course of the year compared to 2016, according to GasBuddy’s 2017 Fuel Price Outlook.

In fact, GasBuddy predicts $3 a gallon gasoline will be seen in the largest cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Seattle, with a strong possibility of such prices also appearing in a majority of the nation’s 20 largest metro areas. The country's largest metro area, of course, includes the lower Hudson Valley.

The national average has moved higher for 34 of the past 35 days, according to AAA.

New York remains one of the country's most expensive markets for gas. The national average gas price as of Jan. 2 was $2.34; in New York, the average was $2.52.

Today the national average was $2.367. In New York — $2.544.

And in neighboring New Jersey, the week of Jan. 2 saw the Garden State added to AAA's list of Top 10 Largest Weekly Increases. Gas there reached $2.44.

GasBuddy also predicts:

• $355 billion will be spent on gasoline in the U.S. over the course of the year, $52 billion more than last year. That’s a considerable jump given that motorists saved $39 billion on gasoline in 2016 versus 2015.
• The seasonal switch from ‘winter-blend’ to ‘summer-blend’ as mandated by EPA and the Clean Air Act will bring a spike at the pump later this winter and spring, with the national average gas price rising between 35-60 cents between mid-February and a peak, likely to occur in May.

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