Average retail gasoline prices in the Nashville area rose 7.8 cents during the past week, averaging $3.59 per gallon as of Sunday, according to gasoline price website NashvilleGasPrices.com.

This compares with the national average of $3.73, a rise of 3 cents.

Nashville prices Sunday were 15.6 cents per gallon higher than they were on the same day one year ago and 30.5 cents per gallon higher than they were four weeks ago. The national average has increased 23.3 cents per gallon during the last four weeks and stands 11.8 cents per gallon higher than on this day one year ago.

“For those that have noticed, the national average has perked up slightly in the last week as oil prices have advanced," GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan said in a release. "While that may be notable, soon-to-be Hurricane Isaac will be the story this week. It's entirely within the realm of possibility that we see refinery outages, oil production losses, and gasoline supply issues —, essentially all the things you don't want to happen. While this storm doesn't currently appear as powerful as other storms that have caused similar concern, we're continuing to watch the situation develop.

"One thing is for sure: I'm concerned that this storm will temporarily drive prices higher in the short term."

GasBuddy operates NashvilleGasPrices.com and more than 250 similar websites that track gasoline prices at approximately 140,000 gasoline stations in the United States and Canada.