The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Washington continues to climb to new record highs.
The AAA auto club reports it's now $3.49 a gallon. That's up 41 cents in the past month, 78 cents in the past year.
The survey for Monday found the highest prices in Bellingham at $3:58 and the lowest in Spokane at $3.36. The average price in the Seattle area is $3.52.
Washington's gas price is 27 cents higher than the national average, which surged on Monday to within half a cent of a record high of $3.227 a gallon. Oil prices, meanwhile, surged to $107, a new inflation-adjusted record and their fifth new high in the last six sessions.
The national average price of a gallon of gas is 69 cents higher than one year ago. Last May, prices peaked at $3.227 as surging demand and a string of refinery outages raised concerns about supplies.
That record will likely be left in the dust soon as gas prices accelerate toward levels that could approach $4 a gallon, though most analysts believe prices will peak below that psychologically significant mark. In its last forecast, released last month, the Energy Department said nationwide average prices will likely peak around $3.40 a gallon this spring; a new forecast is due Tuesday.
Retail gas prices are following crude oil, jumped 24 percent in a month on its way to setting new inflation-adjusted records four times last week. On Monday, crude prices surged to yet another record as investors shrugged off dollar stability stabilized and a cooling in tensions between Venezuela and its neighbors Colombia and Ecuador.
Still, there was little in oil's price uncertainty to convince analysts that the huge runup in oil prices has run its course.
''We've got a Fed(eral Reserve) meeting on the 18th that could see a sizeable rate cut,'' said Brad Samples, an analyst with Summit Energy Services Inc., in Louisville, Ky. ''So, it's not over.''
Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose $1.57 to $106.72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier setting a new trading record of $107.