Price at the gas pump more than doubles in last 16 months, nearing all-time record

Charts compiled and created by gasbuddy.com

You don't have to be a Georgia Tech mathematics major to realize that the cost of gas is really, really going in the wrong direction.

By Sunday morning, the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded in Georgia was placed at $3.897, according to www.gasbuddy. com, who has been surveying for roughly 14 years now. That's 106 percent higher than the 18-month low in the Peach State of $1.88, set back in early November 2020. The national average, meanwhile, was $4.01 by Sunday morning, fast approaching the highest in Gas Buddy's database, which as $4.10 in July 2008.

Meanwhile, the venerable AAA organization on Saturday placed its national average of regular unleaded at $3.922. AAA's all-time high also was recorded in July 2008 and was $4.114. In terms of seasonal perspective, here's a look back at the average cost of gas at the pump for the month of March, going way back,according to the Federal Energy Information Administration:

• March '21 – $2.87
• March '20 – $2.12
• March '19 – $2.87
• March '18 – $2.62
• March '17 – $2.32
• March '16 – $2.07
• March 15 – $2.46
• March '14 – $3.55
• March '13 – $3.68
• March '12 – $3.92
• March '11 – $3.60

In terms of forecasts, Gas Buddy predicts that the national average of regular unleaded to reach "upward of $4.25 by Memorial Day.” Gas Buddy then predicts that the cost should fall at a nominal rate each month before reaching $3.78 by December. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine shows, however, a whole lot can happen between now and next Christmas.