Average retail gasoline prices in Minnesota have fallen 1 cent in the past week, averaging $3.50 per gallon Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 2,856 gas outlets in Minnesota. This compares with the national average that has increased 3.4 cents in the last week to $3.59 per gallon, according to gasoline price website MinnesotaGasPrices.com.

Regular gasoline prices in International Falls, according to the site, ranged from $3.39 to $3.54. Local prices midgrade, premium and diesel fuel were not listed on the site.

Including the change in gas prices in Minnesota during the past week, prices Sunday were 1 cent per gallon higher compared to the same day one year ago and are 5 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has increased 9.2 cents during the last month and stands 7.2 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.

"The national average has zoomed higher in the last week, regaining some upward momentum and bringing us to the highest national average so far this year," said GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan. "As we get very near the final shift to summer spec gasoline, we're seeing prices continue to creep higher in many communities across the country. GasBuddy last week released a forecast for what motorists should expect this summer, and to summarize, we expect prices nationally between April and September to average out to $3.52 per gallon, which would be slightly under the same period last year," DeHaan said.

Outlook for spring

With the first quarter of the year over, GasBuddy looked at what took place at some 120,000 gas stations across the United States during the first quarter, as well as what is yet to come.

Virginia boasted the largest savings at the pump for January through March versus the same time period in 2013, at 23.7 cents per gallon. Also in the top five are Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Alabama. A total of 48 states saw lower gas prices this year than last during the first quarter, with the exceptions being Colorado and Wyoming.

Montana saw the cheapest average in the first quarter, with gas prices averaging a mere $3.09 per gallon. Hawaii saw the highest prices, averaging $4.06 per gallon. Unsurprisingly, it was cities in these states that fared the best and worst, respectively. Billings, Mont., saw gas average $3.06 per gallom while Honolulu saw prices average $3.97 per gallon. California cities rounded out the rest of the cities where prices were highest during the first quarter.

The price of $3.49 per gallon was the most common in the U.S. Last week with 4,742 stations charging that price, while $3.59 per gallon was the second most popular price, with 4,522 stations charging that price.

Motorists in California have seen the longest streak of rising prices, at 66 consecutive days, while Washington and Virginia round out the top three at 55 and 54 days respectively.

So what's ahead? According to GasBuddy analysts, the rise in prices will likely persist for several more weeks. "Motorists face rising prices every spring for varying reasons, but most notably because of refinery maintenance that slows production of gasoline and stations being required to sell cleaner burning blends of gasoline that cost them more," said DeHaan. "We believe that gas prices nationally will average $3.52 per gallon for the April through September time frame, which would be the lowest we've seen in a few years.”

GasBuddy.com is a tool to help motorists save money at the pump by collecting gas price data and displaying it on websites and on a free smartphone app that has been downloaded over 37 million times. The site operates MinnesotaGasPrices.com and more than 250 similar websites that track gasoline prices at more than 140,000 gasoline stations in the United States and Canada.