California gas prices soar ahead of Memorial Day weekend

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Gas prices are soaring amid a demand increase in recent weeks and that has Central California residents already feeling the impact.

In California, prices are up by over 23 cents, totaling an average of $4.83 a gallon in the state.

"I used to fill my tank with $100 or $120, but now it's $160, $165. You can see the difference. It's not the drive -- I still do the same driving, but $40 to $60 is a difference," says local business owner, Felipe Madrigal.

Felipe spends 20 to 30 hours on the road for work each week, and he says he's bracing for the summer rise at the pump.

"Gas prices are going up and you can feel it, so as a business owner, you can tell the difference, and I'm a little bit worried about that," mentions Felipe.

Yakoob Mahomed, the owner of Jack's Gas, says he has been in contact with the gas company, which says the market has been up for the past few weeks.

"Just raising every day, 5 cents, 10 cents. The other day, they raised 20 cents in one day. It's a big jump, huge jump," says Yakoob.

Increasing prices also means customers spend less money at the store.

Yakob explains, "Some places are already $4.99. That is $5 a gallon -- that's a lot of money. If you have a 20-gallon car that's $100 to fill up, that's too much."

According to AAA, that's not stopping travelers from hitting the road later this month as they predict about 4.8 million people will travel in California on Memorial Day weekend.

There may be no relief at the gas pump as the summer season winds up.

"We don't predict the future. However, we can say that when demand goes up, prices typically follow. Right now, we are expecting a very busy travel season. AAA is projecting about 45.1 million people to travel at least 50 miles from home, beginning May 22 through May 26 for Memorial Day weekend," explains Dough Johnson with AAA.

The company says, despite the price tag, it is still cheaper to travel by car compared to this time last year.

For more on gas prices across the nation, visit click here.

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