Summer drivers already dealing with scorching temperatures are feeling the heat in another place  – the gas pump.

At the start of the week, analyst Patrick DeHaan with GasBuddy.com wrote the nation’s average price of a gallon of gas had risen 2.1 cents in the last week to $3.55 per gallon. Yesterday, DeHaan tweeted the national average has grown to $3.67 per gallon, just 2 cents lower than 2023′s high of $3.69 reported at the start of May.

The extreme heat – coupled with supply issues and increased summer travel- are resulting in the rapid price increase, DeHaan told Fox Business.

“With extreme heat also leading to some refinery outages, and with July gasoline inventories at their lowest level since 2015, we’re primed to see the cost increases showing up in force this week across the country,” DeHaan said, adding that large price increases are already being seen in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Florida.

The national average price for a gallon could rise 5-10 cents this week, with increases as high as 25 cents per gallon in some places, DeHaan said.

The average price per gallon in Alabama is currently $3.30, an increase of 3 cents per gallon from the day before, according to tracking by AAA. Last week’s average was $3.15; last month’s average was $3.12. The 2023 prices remain far below 2022s at the same point, however, when the average price of a gallon of gas was $3.89. The highest price ever reported for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Alabama was $4.63 on June 14, 2022.