According to Gasbuddy. com's senior petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan, the forthcoming Labor Day weekend will likely witness a "noticeable" increase in the average price per gallon of gasoline in the US --- thanks largely to Hurricane Isaac.

Already, the national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded recorded its biggest one-day jump on Wednesday, when the figures went up by five cents, to $3.80.

With DeHaan forecasting that "the national average will keep ticking higher" throughout the weekend, it is quite evident that the expected gas-price rise will largely be a consequence of the fact that Hurricane Isaac - which was downgraded to a storm on Wednesday - has led to the shuttering of a number of refineries along the Gulf Coast, and a cut down in the operating rates at the others.

Projecting that the average price for a gallon of gasoline in Georgia will apparently see an increase during the Labor Day weekend, Jessica Brady, a spokeswoman for the Florida AAA auto club insurance office - said that, so far as Labor Day travel is concerned, the prices of gasoline will "continue to increase into the holiday weekend."

Noting that, in Georgia, gas prices during the holiday weekend could go over $4 per gallon, particularly in the metro markets, Brady said that it still was "too early to tell how high gas prices will go and for how long as a result of Isaac."