{"id":351132,"date":"2026-03-21T17:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T17:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/351132\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T17:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T17:38:20","slug":"gas-prices-continue-to-climb-as-spring-arrives-amid-middle-east-unrest-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/351132\/","title":{"rendered":"Gas prices continue to climb as spring arrives amid Middle East unrest \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Along with the arrival of spring, Saturday will mark three weeks of the Iran war. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">As a result of the conflict and a few other factors, gas prices have exploded across the nation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The national average sits at $3.91 a gallon while in Utah it\u2019s $3.88 at the pump, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\">AAA<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Two and a half weeks ago at the conclusion of the first week of the Iran war, prices were $3.10 per gallon nationally and $2.78 statewide, as reported by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/politics\/2026\/03\/06\/gas-prices-increase-in-utah-and-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/politics\/2026\/03\/06\/gas-prices-increase-in-utah-and-us\/\">Deseret News<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to those numbers, in less than a month, the national average gas price has surged by 81 cents, while the average in Utah has risen by over a dollar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">One credible <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GasBuddyGuy\/status\/2034966999559020736?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GasBuddyGuy\/status\/2034966999559020736?s=20\">report<\/a> says that Americans are paying nearly $575 million more every day compared to a month ago. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The top 5 most expensive state gas price averages are all Western states.<\/p>\n<p>California: $5.65\/gallonWashington: $5.21\/gallonHawaii: $5.12\/gallonOregon: $4.77\/gallonNevada: $4.69\/gallon<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Colorado and Utah round out the top tier, ranking 13th and 14th, respectively.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50;background-color:#F3F1F0;cursor:pointer\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6BEKQQCJSRE2HBLFPJNZ4BIJAM.JPG\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>An individual fills up their car with gas at a Maverik gas station in Herriman on Thursday, March 12, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News Why do gas prices go up this time of the year?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Gas prices often rise during the summer in part due to the production of summer-blend gasoline. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">This type of gasoline is formulated to be less prone to evaporating in hot weather, which helps reduce pollution. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The switch to this blend and higher summer travel demand contribute to the seasonal increase in gas prices.<\/p>\n<p>Some ways to keep costs down<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/news\/fuel-saving-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/news\/fuel-saving-tips\/\">AAA<\/a> recommends driving the speed limit as aerodynamic drag \u201ccauses fuel economy to drop off significantly as speeds increase above 50 mph,\u201d their website says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Additional strategies include reducing air conditioning usage, consolidating errands into fewer trips, and employing cruise control. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Along with the arrival of spring, Saturday will mark three weeks of the Iran war. As a result&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46,5964,5963],"class_list":["post-351132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news-division","tag-news-feed-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}