Good news for drivers! Gas prices are finally starting to come down. When Russia invaded Ukraine, gas prices shot up significantly. With war breaking out in the Middle East between Israel and the Hamas, you might be worried gas prices could be going up again.

The conflict in the Middle East shouldn't affect gas prices as long as it doesn't spread to more oil-producing countries. Israel and Palestine are not major oil players in the market, Fox Business explains.

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Gas dropped over 30 cents a gallon in recent weeks. It went from close to 4 dollars a gallon to now in the mid to low 3-dollar range in the region. The temporary spike to 4 dollars a gallon in September was because of refinery maintenance and scheduled shutdowns. Now that the refineries are back online, prices have stabilized and are actually continuing to drop.

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AAA reports that the average price of gas nationwide is $3.60. Minnesota stands at $3.47 on average, and Wisconsin is at $3.24.

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Also helping lower the cost of gasoline is the switchover to winter-blend gasoline. It is cheaper to produce as it uses more butane which helps ignite the gas in lower temperatures. The drawback of the winter blend of gas is that it lowers your fuel efficiency so you'll get fewer miles per gallon.

Experts expect the price drop to continue, and could even see more states below the $3 a gallon average by November. As of October 16, gas prices were already lower than $3 a gallon in the Cloquet, Minnesota area.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli