(WXYZ) — We are just a few days away from Memorial Day weekend, and with the extended weekend, gas prices are at the top of mind for many people.
Nearly 1.3 million Michiganders plan to drive during the holiday weekend, and of those, 1.2 million are expected to drive.
Overall, it’s good news at the pump. While prices are slightly higher this holiday travel season, prices are expected to go down.
“I’m not happy with the high prices, but you gotta pay it, gotta get to work," Sven Frazier told me.
Drivers tell me shelling out cash at the pump is just something they've gotten used to.
“What do you think of gas prices right now?” I asked.
“They are quite high," Torri Calver said.
“Everything seems high. You can’t look at it because you need gas but, but everything seems a little bit more difficult to afford these days," Adam Sabree added.
I turned to Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, to see if drivers will be getting relief any time soon.
“What are gas prices looking like for Memorial Day?” I asked.
“Not too bad, still higher than what we are seeing during the winter but we have started seeing some relief," he said. “Prices still about 20 cents higher than last year, but the good news is I think we have hit the peak for our year potentially.”
De Haan said the highest gas prices of the year are behind us.
“There is a big myth that gas prices are higher in the summer. They are actually higher in the spring because of the pressure of refineries that do maintenance before the summer from the change over of summer gasoline which doesn’t happen int he summer but in the spring, with those pressures now behind us, we tend to see prices easing," he said.
“Patrick, I still have PTSD from when prices were above $5 a gallon. Please tell me that is not happening again this summer.” I said.
"$5 a gallon is extremely low potential. You probably have better potential of getting struck twice by lightening at $5 gasoline this summer," he said.
At this point, the only thing that could push prices up is a hurricane hitting refineries on the gulf coast. As long as that doesn't happen, we should be in the clear.
For many, it's just an expensive we have to expect.
"I really don’t check, I just get gas when I need gas," Sabree said.
Also good news, De Haan says the days of massive fluctuations in prices because of the pandemic appears to be behind us.
