Los Angeles County drivers are paying $6.39 a gallon for regular gasoline, just 10 cents short of the all-time record.

The average price on Sunday, Sept. 27, climbed about 5 cents from the day before, according to AAA and Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) data reported by the Korea Daily. It marks the highest level in nearly four years, since Oct. 10, 2022.

Prices have risen 39 straight days. Over that stretch, the average has surged about 75 cents. A year ago, a gallon cost $1.66 less.

The record to beat: $6.493, set Oct. 5, 2022.

Fall usually brings lower gas prices. This year, AAA pointed to lingering volatility in the Strait of Hormuz and persistently high crude oil prices as the drivers. Crude was nearing $100 a barrel as of Sept. 21, according to Business Insider data reported by the Sacramento Bee.

The surge traces largely to the joint U.S./Israel war on Iran, which began Feb. 28. Since then, LA County gas prices have jumped $1.69 a gallon, ABC7 reported, citing City News Service data.

West Coast gasoline inventories are running below the five-year average for this time of year, increasing the region's dependence on imported fuel, according to Kandace Redd, senior public affairs specialist for the Automobile Club of Southern California. Redd said in a Sept. 25 statement, reported by the Eastsider LA, that Southern Californians will keep paying more until worldwide supply disruptions ease.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sept. 24 that relief requires real change on the ground. "Things aren't going to meaningfully improve until one or two of those start to improve," De Haan said, referring to de-escalation in the Middle East and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

LA County's daily price increases have far outpaced the national average. Over the past week, the county's average rose 2.9 cents per day, while the national average climbed less than two-tenths of a cent daily, according to AAA and OPIS data.

De Haan wrote in a Sept. 14 GasBuddy blog post that geopolitical escalations make price relief unlikely soon and that motorists should expect continued volatility.

The national average for regular gas stood at $4.49 a gallon, its highest ever recorded for this time of year, according to GasBuddy. Diesel hit $6.52 nationally on Sept. 23, up from $3.69 a year earlier, according to AAA.

Prices change daily, and no scheduled policy action or hearing on fuel costs appeared in public records as of Sept. 28.