Holiday travel forecast: more people, more rain, slightly more at the pumps

Dec. 22—LIMA — With Christmas right around the corner, many families are getting ready for that trip to visit relatives or for that end-of-year vacation. With that in mind, travelers should expect higher numbers on the roads and in the air along with slightly higher costs at the pump than in recent days.

According to GasBuddy, many gas stations nationwide are still featuring prices under $2.99 per gallon. However, prices have been rising recently, with the national average expected to hit $3.09 per gallon on Christmas Day. In Ohio, prices have been trending upward recently, with Friday's average price of $2.950 per gallon up from Thursday's average of $2.896 and last Friday's average of $2.714. Friday's average is also up from this time a year ago when gas prices in Ohio averaged $2.834 per gallon. Prices in the Lima area have also stayed below $3 a gallon, according to GasBuddy. A listing of area gas prices and trend information can be found at limaohio.com/gasprices.

The possibility is out there for motorists to see a sudden rise in gas prices due to multiple factors, according to GasBuddy. These factors include the prospect of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year along with attacks by Houthi pirates on oil tankers in the Red Sea. However, any price increases for the near future are expected to be moderate.

"For the second straight year, we've seen the national average stop just short of falling below the $3 per gallon mark, though tens of thousands of gas stations around the U.S. will still have prices at $2.99 or lower," GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said in a statement.

Despite the upward trend for gas prices, commuters should expect to see more fellow travelers sharing the road and skies with them, according to AAA Ohio public and government affairs manager Kara Hitchens.

"Here in Ohio alone, we're predicting 4.7 million people will be traveling for the holidays," she said. "I'm saying 'holidays' plural because we're putting Christmas and New Year's together."

This represents a somewhat mixed result as far as a trend, Hitchens said, in that it does represent a slight but steady increase as numbers get back up to their pre-pandemic levels, but the biggest increase is coming not as much on the road as in the air.

"For airlines, it is a record-breaking end-of-year travel," she said. "Overall, more people are driving, but more people are flying than ever before."

As for what kind of weather those travelers can expect, Hitchens noted that it will not be close to the harsh conditions the region experienced last year.

"What I hear forecasters say is that there will be a lot of rain, which can impact travel," she said. "We just encourage people to be careful on the roads because it is going to be a rainy holiday."

That prediction was echoed by AccuWeather, which is forecasting rain all weekend with highs in the 50s. For Christmas Day, the forecast is mild cloudy weather with a 77 percent chance of precipitation and a high temperature of 55 degrees. More weather details can be found on the weather tab on the limaohio.com homepage.