The warmer weather of spring is finally here and gasoline prices in Iowa are starting to fall. Gail Weinholzer, spokeswoman with Triple-A Iowa, says pump prices are beginning to edge downward and they are already more than 20-cents below a year ago. She points to several factors. “We’re seeing increasing refinery production,” Weinholzer says. “We’ve got some lower (crude) oil prices, so that’s the good news. The bad news is due in part to a rather stagnant demand which is bad news because that tends to reflect the state of the economy.” Weinholzer is hopeful gas prices will continue to fall this spring but she offers a word of caution that prices may creep back up shortly.

“We may see a slight increase as we finish the transition from the winter to the summer grade fuels,” Weinholzer says. “We may see a slight increase if, during that time period any of the refineries choose to close for regularly-scheduled maintenance and repair kinds of activities.”

Iowa’s current average gas price is three-58 a gallon, a nickel below the national average. A year ago, Iowa’s average price was three-79 a gallon.

(Radio Iowa)