$4/gallon gas in Michigan for the fourth time in four years

WOOD-TV has an overview for the state as a whole, as well as neighboring Chicagoland.




WXYZ gets the view from ground level here in metro Detroit.




For a print source, the Detroit Free Press published Gas tops $4 a gallon in state, may go higher yesterday.

That day has come.

Gas prices have topped $4 in Michigan and could continue rising.

The Detroit average was $4.03 and the statewide gas average $4.06, as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to gasbuddy.com. That is a 5-cent increase in Detroit over the last 24 hours -- and a 10.5-cent hike across Michigan.
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"They may start going down a penny or two in the next few days, after of course, they've risen to $4. Long-term over (the) next few weeks, I expect Michigan's statewide average will continue to rise," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for the website.

The switchover to summer gasoline, refinery maintenance and speculation are all explanations for the price hike, he said.

Monday, the gas stations by my house had regular at $3.91/gallon. When I filled up Wednesday morning, the price by my house jumped up to $4.15/gallon and the three stations two blocks away went up to $4.03/gallon. Since oil prices were dropping at the time, I decided against filling up, so I only put in half a tank on a bet that gas prices, at least on the short term, would go down a bit. The last time I made that wager with gas prices, I won, as the station near my house dropped its price to compete with the three stations two blocks away. However, the long term trend is still up for at least the next month and a half.

Adding my account means this report has four sources involving the number four. As someone who has a passing familiarity with the cultures of East Asia, I know that four is an unlucky number, so a story about the number four with four sources is probably tempting fate. Oh, wait, I just added a fifth source with Wikipedia. According to their entry on numbers in Chinese culture, five combined with four becomes 54, which means "not die" or "no death." Hah, I'm safe!