With gas prices climbing to as much as $1.69 in Charleston, it may be just an indicator of higher prices to come this summer.

The average price of fuel is $1.58 for downstate Illinois this month, but prices typically rise more during the summer months, said Norma Cooper, spokesperson for AAA. AAA takes gas price statistics called the Daily Fuel Gauge Survey, at several cities in each state and has statistics for the past year.

Gas prices usually rise between five and 15 cents during the summer months in an average year, and it is a natural pattern, Cooper said.

“It is a natural economic phenomena,” Cooper said.

The average price of gas in central Illinois last April was $1.43, which rose to as much as $2 by June.

Cooper said AAA has been getting reports of price spikes all over Illinois in the past two days.

“This market is extremely volatile,” she said.

Gas prices typically go through a cycle where they peak when it becomes warm, and the price spike breaks about the end of July and stabilizes during the winter, she said.

Besides the typical increased demand that comes in the summertime because of lawn mowers, weekend trips and motorboats, other factors affect rises in gas prices, Cooper said.

Prices can vary from year to year because of the supply of crude oil, availability of delivery and possibility of problems with the pipeline.

It is not possible to project at this time exactly what prices will be, but it is likely they will climb even higher, Cooper said.

Last year the “quite severe” increase in prices during the summer was partially a result of pipeline problems and a demand that outweighed the available supply, she said.