by Steve Wilson
Despite being hit by Category 3 Hurricane Idalia, gas prices in Florida have decreased by five cents going into the Labor Day weekend.
The average gas price in Florida was $3.69 per gallon of regular according to the American Automobile Association, down from $3.75 last week but four cents more than last month. The national average is $3.83.
“With visits to the pump rather flat and the price of oil hovering around the $80 per barrel mark, the national average for a gallon of gas will likely stay where it is through this holiday weekend,” said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson, in a news release. “Hurricane Idalia may cause regional price jumps due to station damage, flooded roads, and power outages, but as in past years, these things are usually fixed in a few weeks.”
The storm, which made landfall near Keaton Beach on Wednesday and flooded parts of the peninsular Gulf Coast with storm surge, hit a sparsely populated part of the state. The primary four counties of the Big Bend region — Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie and Levy — have a population of 95,980, a small percentage of the state’s 22.2 million residents.
Gas prices in most of the counties hit hardest by Idalia are above the state average and closer to or more than the national average. Jefferson is at $3.80 per gallon while Dixie County is at $3.82 per gallon and neighboring Levy and Suwannee counties are tied at $3.84. Taylor County is the cheapest in the area at $3.58 per gallon while neighboring Madison County is at $3.85 and Union County is at $3.86.
The cheapest gas in the state is in Okaloosa County in northwest Florida at $3.46 per gallon. The most expensive is $3.86 per gallon in Palm Beach County in the southern part of the state and Union County in the north.
The most expensive gasoline in a metropolitan area is the West Palm Beach/ Boca Raton area with a price of $3.86 per gallon. The cheapest is Pensacola in northwest Florida at $3.49 per gallon.
The most expensive gasoline nationally is California at $5.30 per gallon, followed by Washington ($5.10), Hawaii ($4.80), Oregon ($4.75) and Alaska ($4.62).
Cheapest gas nationally is Mississippi at $3.30 per gallon, followed by Louisiana ($3.37), Arkansas ($3.40), Texas ($3.41) and Alabama ($3.42).
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Steve Wilson has been an award-winning writer and editor for nearly 20 years at newspapers in Georgia, Florida and Mississippi and is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and University of Alabama graduate. Wilson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
