How low can gas prices go?

Virginia, meanwhile, has maintained some of “the best rates around,” with stations in Gainesville offering prices below $2 a gallon.

“The last time prices were this low was mid-March,” said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA’s Mid-Atlantic region. “The D.C. region has been one of the most expensive areas in the country ... but for the first time in more than a year, prices in Maryland and D.C. itself are at least in the same ballpark with the national price mark.”

According to AAA’s calculations, drivers across the country are now spending an average of $2.49 a gallon on regular fuel, a dramatic 45 cent drop-off from a month ago. It’s gotten to the point where Hawaii is the last holdover to not yet dip below $3 a gallon.

In D.C., the middle price for gas hit $2.66 on Monday, with the Maryland suburban counties just below that at $2.59 and Virginia’s average hanging comfortably at $2.33 a gallon, Townsend said.

In each area, these rates are far lower than even a few weeks ago, as “prices keeping plummeting almost daily by a penny or two,” he noted.

The relief customers are seeing stems from a handful of positive changes, most notably the end of the summer driving season, less contentious conditions between Lebanon and Israel and a relatively quiet hurricane season.

Rayola Dougher, the manager of energy market issues for the American Petroleum Institute, said these constantly fluctuating factors make it hard to determine just how long the lower gas prices will last.

“We have to get through the rest of the hurricane season and the winter season,” she said. “Geopolitical conditions also are very significant. The situation in the Middle East is playing out nicely right now, but we’ll have to see.”

Townsend, on the other hand, predicts that with demand for gasoline decreasing along with crude oil prices, gas prices could near the $2 per gallon mark in coming weeks.

“We’re in uncharted territory,” he said.