As temperatures begin to rise so will Birmingham area gas prices according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and UAB Assistant Professor of Economics Ben Meadows.

As of April 10, the average gas price in the Birmingham metro area was $3.27 a gallon according to a weekly update done by Stacker compiled from AAA data. This cost is consistent from the previous week but is a 13-cent increase from two weeks prior. Meadows says drivers should anticipate this trend to continue throughout the summer.

He predicts peak gas costs this summer will remain roughly a dollar cheaper in the area than last year’s but cited EIA’s prediction that costs could peak somewhere between $3.50 and $3.60 a gallon in the metro during this time.

This is due, in part, to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) April 3 announcement that they would be cutting oil production by over 1.5 million barrels per day until the end of the year according to Meadows.

“The leading issue here is OPEC’s April 3 announcement to cut production,” said Meadows. “This puts upward pressure on price, which of course, doesn’t time well with the summer travel season here in the US.”