GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan gives the latest update on the impact of gas prices as he offers tips for those planning to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday this week.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00GasBuddy is projecting a big jump in the number of Americans on the road this year.
00:06Patrick DeHaan is the head of petroleum analysis for the gas price tracking website
00:14GasBuddy and thank you so much for joining us here today. What is
00:18GasBuddy predicting for Thanksgiving road trips this year over last year?
00:24Well certainly a lot more folks on the road. 72 percent of Americans that they're going to be
00:29hitting the road for Thanksgiving. Not a huge surprise this time the gas prices really have
00:33been declining the last couple of months so pack some patience especially if you're leaving
00:38Wednesday that's going to be the peak travel period as folks take off a little bit early
00:43from work Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday evening and then again Sunday afternoon as
00:49Americans come back home you're going to have a lot of fellow travelers out there with you but
00:53the good news is that gas prices have been declining. Now some states have seen some
00:58increases in the last week New Jersey's up about nine cents a gallon that leads increases but
01:03the national average is at its lowest level since 2021 and it's the cheapest Thanksgiving
01:10since the pandemic Thanksgiving of 2020. So not a bad time to hit the road 30 states where you'll
01:16find average gas prices below three dollars a gallon. And I guess the question is sir why
01:22why are some of the what are some of the factors that are influenced the prices at the pump?
01:28Well a lot of what we're seeing right now is seasonal gas prices have come down in most
01:33states over the last couple of months Americans simply don't drive as much and we see some of
01:36the winter conditions that you're showing it's because of that that Americans tend to gravitate
01:41to stay a little closer to home now the exception obviously Thanksgiving but even with us traveling
01:46Wednesday and Sunday in very high numbers most Americans park they don't have school or work
01:52really on Thursday Friday Saturday so demand for gasoline is actually a little bit lower and it's
01:57that drop in seasonal demand that we can thank for lower gas prices this Thanksgiving this is
02:02the trend by the way these low prices should stick around on and off really through the end of the
02:07year. Well that's what I was going to ask you could you even go beyond that what what do you
02:11think that the gas prices are going to do so you think it continues to come down toward the end of
02:17the year what about in 2025? Well you know I do think that there's a continued trend national
02:23average has been really trying to get below the three dollar gallon mark something that we haven't
02:28seen since 2021 we've kind of been bouncing around we're at about 304 today I think by the end of
02:34the year we still have probably a 50-50 shot of getting below the three dollar mark January and
02:39February also we could see some states basically the inland areas the Great Lakes Rockies and
02:45Midwest could see lower prices in January and February again that's because the height of the
02:51winter is reducing demand in those areas so wait till January February but by the time Valentine's
02:58Day comes and goes that's when we'll start to see seasonal increases by the way 2025 probably
03:04is going to be a little bit lower than 2024 but it's going to feel very similar. All right Patrick
03:10Jahan head of Petroleum Analysis for GasBuddy.com thank you for joining us here on AccuWeather Early
03:17and Happy Thanksgiving. To you as well.