If you’ve stopped in to get gasoline in the past couple of days, you’ve probably noticed the price is going up—which is a seasonal. Experts say we should see a peak of $3.40 to $3.50 a gallon before prices go back down. Gas prices tend to go up in the spring because many refineries are slowing down production while they take care of some seasonal maintenance.

The average price for a gallon of regular gas statewide is running about $3.18 a gallon, up 6-cents in the past week, according to gasbuddy.com. In Louisiana, a gallon’s also averaging $3.18. Nationally, that average is $3.36, up 5-cents for the week, but down some 36-cents from this week a year ago.

Here at home, checking prices this morning, lowest we found was at Wal-Mart, Brookshire Brothers and the Valero on San Augustine Street in Center, where it’s the same as it was last week, at $3.13 a gallon. I

n Hawaii, price is $4.04 a gallon for the high side nationwide. On the low side, it’s $3.06 in Montana.