Holy Cow! Gas Sinks to 47 Cents a Gallon

LAKE HOUGHTON, MI – Holy cow!

Gas prices plummeted to 47 cents a gallon in Lake Houghton Sunday after three stations got into a gas war.

Don’t get too excited. Prices statewide averaged $1.68 Tuesday, the 13th lowest in the country, according to GasBuddy.com. In Metro Detroit, the average was $1.66.

Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, told ABC News the low prices were “unheard of.”

“This is something we don’t see often at all or ever,” he said.

DeHaan told ABC News low oil prices, high supplies and low demand have combined to give Americans relatively cheap gas.

U.S. gas prices averaged about $1.89 per gallon Tuesday, about 17 cents a gallon lower than they were this time last year. Prices are well below the highest national average, $4.12 a gallon, recorded in 2008, when prices soared as high as $6 a gallon at some stations.

The rush for the cheap gas created a traffic jam in Lake Houghton, located on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Police had to direct traffic around the long lines, WWTV/WWUP-TV reported.

The price war, which gave Michigan the distinction of being the first state with gas prices below $1 a gallon in more than a decade, didn’t last long.

By Tuesday, prices in Lake Houghton were back up in the $1.33 to $1.48 range, according to the price calculator, found below. You can find the current prices of gas in your area. Just type in your city or ZIP code to see a map with the prices around you.