Gas prices spike as Isaac closes in on Gulf coast

Gas prices across metro Atlanta continued to climb Tuesday after oil companies pulled workers from offshore drilling rigs and curbed production at Gulf coast refineries as Hurricane Isaac headed toward Louisiana.

Atlanta's average price for a gallon of regular unleaded early Tuesday was $3.85, up 5 cents a gallon from Monday, according to atlantagasprices.com, a website that monitors how much it costs to fill up your tank.

Tuesday's price was up 13 cents from a week ago, and 39 cents higher than one month ago. It was 10 cents higher than the national average of $3.75, the website said.

The lowest price reported by the website early Tuesday was $3.44 at a station in Paulding County, while a couple of stations along I-75 in southern Henry County were charging just under $3.50.

About a dozen other stations, mostly in northern Cobb and Bartow counties, were selling gas for between $3.55 and $3.59 a gallon.

The highest priced gas was $4.19 a gallon at a Chevron station on Cobb Parkway in Marietta and a couple of stations in northwest Atlanta, while gas was $4.09 at a handful of stations in the Buckhead area.

Tuesday's average price was the highest since mid-April, when the price hit $3.87 a gallon.