Gas prices behave abnormally in March

March gas prices nationwide finished lower than they started, movement GasBuddy.com analysts say is atypical.

"Gas prices in March came in like a lion and are going out like a lamb," said Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy.com senior petroleum analyst, in a news release. The month-to-month decrease was 10.3 cents.

He said the nation's gas average - which finished at $3.61 per gallon yesterday after a 1.9 cent decrease during the past week - was lower at the end of March than at the beginning of the month for the first time in a decade.

"GasBuddy data show that the last time this happened was in 2003 when prices fell a nickel between the start of the month and the conclusion," DeHaan said in the release. "Essentially what we're seeing here ... is perhaps the largest monthly decrease ever during the month of March - a month that has almost always seen prices finishing the month substantially higher than where they entered."

The nationwide average yesterday was 28.1 cents lower than the same day in 2012.

In Missouri, the average price rose 2.6 cents last week to $3.51 per gallon yesterday. The state's average has dropped by 6.2 cents during the past month and by 24.8 cents during the past year, according to GasBuddy, which surveyed 3,940 filling stations in the Show-Me State.

At $3.53 per gallon this morning, Missouri's average ranked the state No. 18 on GasBuddy's list of the lowest gas averages by state. Wyoming topped the list with an average of $3.30 per gallon, while Hawaii had the highest average in the nation, at $4.37 per gallon.

The least expensive gas in Missouri this morning was available for $3.19 per gallon at filling stations in Excelsior Springs and Blue Springs. A station in St. Louis had the highest price, at $3.79 per gallon, according to MissouriGasPrices.com.

In Springfield, Sam's Club stores at 3660 E. Sunshine St. and 745 W. El Camino Alto St. had the lowest gas price in the city, at $3.35 per gallon, followed by $3.38 per gallon at a Murphy USA station at 3516 W. Sunshine St.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $97.23 per barrel as of 10:26 a.m. Light sweet crude oil futures for May were trading at $96.04 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.