A gasoline pump shows a customer has spent $40.00 for just eight gallons of gasoline at a Shell station in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles in this October 2012 file photo. "If you're along the West Coast, specifically California, you have my sympathy," wrote Patrick DeHaan of GasBuddy.com on Tuesday. The average price of gas was $4.51 in California Friday, 79 cents higher than the national average, according to GasBuddy.com, a group of local websites that track gasoline prices.
– Expect gas prices to start falling quickly over the next few weeks, reports USA Today. The national average is about $3.72 a gallon—a record high for this time of year—but it's expected to be about $3.35 by late November, thanks to lower demand and rising inventories typical in autumn. It also helps that producers switch to cheaper winter-blend gas right about now, notes the Christian Science Monitor. Nobody will happier than residents of California, although one analyst notes that the Obama campaign is sure to be pleased, too.