U.S. gas prices have hit a four-month high with 32 straight days of increases at the pump bringing misery to spring breakers and job hunters.

The Automobile Association of America said Monday that the national average for a gallon of regular is $3.73 -- 43 cents more than a month ago -- with prices topping $4 in California and Hawaii.

"It's become the perfect storm," AAA spokeswoman Nancy White said.

White and other experts blamed a series of factors for the uptick that started in mid-January:

-- Some refineries are switching over from winter to summer fuel, which is more expensive to produce.

-- A Hess refinery in New Jersey that supplies 7.5 percent of the Northeast's gas is closing.

-- Midwinter maintenance has led some refineries to go offline temporarily.

-- Demand for gas is up, fueled in part by the return of more people to working.

The price hikes come at a bad time, however, for Americans who are still out of work or facing smaller paychecks because of higher payroll taxes.

"Try the bad gas prices while trying to find a job," one unemployed driver vented on the Facebook page for GasBuddy.com, which tracks fuel prices around the nation.

Patrick DeHaan, an analyst with the website, said many cities have seen increases of 8 cents to 20 cents in just the past week. "This is what we usually see in late winter, early spring, but prices have started to rally two months earlier than usual," he said.

He said his firm's unscientific user surveys suggest that the pinch at the pump could lead to less travel over spring break in March and April and changes in plans for Memorial Day and even the summer.

"There are people predicting that it will go over $5 a gallon," DeHaan said. "I don't believe that's possible, but it shows how concerned motorists are."

On the Facebook page, many posters were worried that the rise in gas prices could cause an economic meltdown.

"When you raise prices on gas people will stop spending money because they need to get back and forth to work and pay their bills each month," one wrote.

"If it's this high right now, imagine what it's gonna be here in a few months!" another fretted.

White of AAA said that based on historical trends, prices will likely continue to rise into the warmer months and driving season, but not at the same pace they did in 2011 and 2012, when developments in Libya and Iran caused big spikes.

"That is not so much part of the picture right now," she said. "But that could change should something else happen overseas."

This story was originally published on Mon Feb 18, 2013 3:24 PM EST

Reuters

A fire struck the core of Chevron Corp's large Richmond refinery on Monday evening, sending flames and a column of smoke into the air and prompting authorities to order nearby residents indoors.

(UPATED 1:39 p.m. Eastern) RICHMOND, Calif. -- Analysts say a fire at one of the country's biggest oil refineries will contribute to higher prices at the pump on the West Coast.

The fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, about 10 miles northeast of San Francisco, broke out Monday evening.

It sent plumes of black smoke over the San Francisco Bay area and sent scores of people to hospitals with breathing problems before it was out the following morning.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, says Chevron's refinery is big and important to the market.

With inventories of gasoline in the region already low compared with the rest of the country, Kloza says pump prices in California and elsewhere on the West Coast will soon average more than $4 per gallon. 

As traders recalled a similar fire on the same unit in 2007 that left the plant mostly idle for months, Los Angeles benchmark gasoline premiums spiked nearly 25 cents, driving up the price of the nation's costliest motor fuel and delivering a margin boost for competing refiners who may try to increase output. Wholesale gasoline was trading at about $3.25 a gallon.

Not all of the 245,000 barrel-per-day plant, which accounts for one-eighth of California's refining capacity, appears to have been shut down, despite local media reports suggesting the sprawling facility had been idled.

"We are still continuing to operate," spokesman Brent Tippen told Reuters, adding that he could not yet provide details on which specific parts were running.

With the crude distillation unit that apparently triggered the blaze believed to have shut earlier, it is unclear how long secondary units -- which rely on feed from the CDU to produce finished fuel like gasoline -- can keep running.

Trade sources who saw images of the 40-foot flames that burned for hours feared the closure could last up to three months, although other experts said it was too early to say.

"It's hard to judge the damage. There is a lot of volatile material there and so looks can be deceptive," said John Auers, a refinery specialist with Houston-based consultants Turner Mason. "If there is no major damage to the units, it could be a matter of days before it returns." 

Below, CNBC's Sharon Epperson reports on the potential impact the fire at Chevron's California refinery could have on gas prices.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Switching to a battery-powered vehicle will yield measurable savings in a motorist’s energy bills, according to a new study, while also reducing global warming emissions.

But the report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, or UCS, finds that the advantages vary widely depending upon where you live.  In the best regions, savings on energy can add up to more than $1,000 annually – with battery cars cleaner than anything else on the road.  But even in the worst regions, those heavily dependent upon coal to generate electricity, the UCS report says battery vehicles retain a significant advantage over traditional automotive powertrain technology.

“No matter where you live in the United States, electric vehicles are good choice for reducing global warming emissions and saving moneyon fueling up,” said Don Anair, the report’s author and senior engineer for UCS’s Clean Vehicles Program.

The organization bills the new study as a first-of-its-kind, and unlike some more limited reports, it tracked total energy use on a wells-to-wheels basis.  In other words, it measures everything from the energy actually used to pump and then refine oil to the energy used to run an internal combustion engine.  For electric vehicles, the study also considered such things as the energy used and pollution created while mining coal.

Chevy Sees No Impact on Volt Sales from Battery Lab Explosion

But the advantage, reports the UCS, is clearly in favor of pure battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, as well as plug-in hybrids.

The study shows that 45% of Americans live in what are categorized as “Best” regions, where battery vehicles result in reduced energy costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions than even the best hybrids or internal combustion-powered automobiles – those now getting at least 50 miles per gallon.

In fact, in California and New York State, a hybrid or conventional gas vehicle would need to yield at least 80 mpg to keep up with the likes of a Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt (the latter operating two-thirds of the time on battery power).

About 37% of Americans live in “Better” regions, according to the new study, where a battery car still is likely to meet or exceed the emissions performance of a 40 mpg hybrid.  And in “Good” regions, like Midwest states heavily dependent upon coal power, battery car emissions are equal to the best non-hybrids, such as a Ford Fiesta or Chevrolet Cruze, Anair said.

• States in the “Best” category are located primarily along the East and West Coasts and include: California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Arizona, New York, Massachusetts and Virginia;
• “Better” states include Texas, New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee;
• “Good” states are largely concentrated in the Midwest and Plains states and include Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Kansas and Minnesota.

“No matter where you live,” he added, “electric vehicles save you on fuel costs.”  With the Chevy Volt, for example, the annual savings are likely to range between $580 and $890 annually.  The fully electric Nissan Leaf should bump that to anywhere from $770 to $1220 annually, according to the UCS.

Your Best – and Worst – High-Mileage Car Deals

The UCS study acknowledged significant differences in the nationwide electric grid that need be addressed, said Anair, but he added that with such efforts already underway, “The good news is that as the nation’s electric grids get cleaner, consumers who buy an EV today can expect to see their car’s emissions go down over the lifetime of the vehicle.”

Consumers have a fair degree of control over how much they save on energy by choosing rate plans – as well as when they actually charge up their vehicles, noted the UCS.  Many utilities now have or are planning to offer interruptible or time-sensitive rates.  And early adopters appear to be taking advantage of these.  The study found the majority of current electric vehicle owners charge up overnight.

That not only means lower-cost power but also reduces the strain on the electric grid as there is less overall demand.  This could permit a significant increase in the number of electric vehicles on the road without forcing the addition of more generators, the UCS report suggested.

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Whether that will continue to be the case is far from clear.  Some industry analysts warn that as more battery cars get on the road – and as the number of public charging stations increases – it will become more common for vehicles to power up during daytime.  This could be especially true with the addition of high-speed “Level III” charging systems that could permit a vehicle like the Leaf to get an 80% recharge in as little as 15 to 20 minutes.

That, experts are betting, will enhance the appeal of battery technology beyond the relatively marginal audience now turning to the technology.  So far, plug-ins and battery-electric vehicles are capturing barely a tenth of a percent of overall U.S. new vehicle sales.

But Anair said the UCS is betting that demand will also increase as new models roll out, giving consumers greater choice.  Before the end of this year, a wide variety of makers will enter the market, including Toyota, with its RAV4-EV and Plius Plug-in; Ford with its C-Max plug-in and Focus Electric, and Honda, with its first battery-electric vehicle since the early 1990s, a version of the subcompact Fit.

A story last week reported that residents of Nome, Alaska, could be looking at a costly winter: $9-a-gallon gasoline. The news, rightfully, has some of the 3,500 residents in the coastal town freaked out.

"It is going to kill us," said Sunny Song, owner of Mr. Cab, which ferries children to school, nurses to their patients' homes and women to hospitals to give birth.

According to the Associated Press report, a winter storm prevented a barge that usually carries fuel from getting to shore. The most likely plan is to fly it in, but it would be costly and could be a logistical nightmare.

A gallon of gas was selling for $5.98 a gallon last week. The next barge delivery wouldn't be until next June. In the meantime, flying fuel to the city could increase the cost per gallon by $3 to $4, officials said.

To put that in context, the average price for a gallon of gas in New York is roughly $3.60. In Missouri, it's only $3.017.

To see what the price at the pump is in your neck of the woods, see AAA's updated chart .

The Associated Press contributed to this report.