Gas Prices in Massachusetts as well as here locally in Berkshire County are skyrocketing, and there doesn't seem to be any sign that they will stop anytime soon. As the war in Ukraine rages on, we are continuing to feel it at the gas pumps.

The state price has exploded upward by 54 cents!

According to AAA Northeast, the Massachusetts average gas price per gallon is up 54 cents from last week when it was sitting at around $3.62, and is now averaging $4.16 per gallon. This is the highest average price ever recorded by AAA in Massachusetts.

 

AAA Northeast
AAA Northeast
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72 cents higher than a month ago!

Today’s price is 72 cents higher than a month ago when it was $3.44 per gallon, and $1.48 higher than it was on March 7th last year when it was $2.68 per gallon. The state's price is also actually 10 cents higher than the average price across the nation.

AAA says that prices are expected to continue rising...

The extraordinary volatility in global oil markets stems from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the question of whether the United States and NATO will impose sanctions on the Russian oil and gas industry. As that issue continues to be debated today, the market will see significant upward pressure on petroleum-related commodities. The 45-cent increase in gas prices here in the U.S. over the past 7 days amounts to the single largest increase since AAA has tracked domestic gas prices. The negative impact of these explosive prices on American consumers will only increase in the near term. ~ Mary Maguire, AAA Northeast Director of Public/Government Affairs

 

The current price for a gallon of gas is averaging $4.10 per gallon in Berkshire County, according to AAA's Gas Price finder, but I've seen it as high as $4.31 out at one particular gas station in Dalton, and that was on Sunday. Several stations in Pittsfield are currently at $4.29 per gallon according to the gas price funder app, GasBuddy. Prices are similar in the northern and southern Berkshires.

Will we hit $5.00 per gallon soon? I think we will. I suppose in a weird way we are supporting Ukraine by enduring these prices, which are certainly tied to sanctions imposed on Russia. We are going to have to hold tight. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

 

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

 

 

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