Joe Solt Jr. pulled his pickup up to the gas pump at the Exxon station on Blakeslee Boulevard in Lehighton early Tuesday morning, happy to see that a gallon of regular was selling for $2.999 a gallon.

"I was actually shocked," said Solt, of Lehighton. He typically spends $60 or $70 a week on fuel."I saw it for the first time this weekend on my way to the Penn State game. I passed several gas stations where the gas was under $3, and I actually had to slow down because I thought I was misreading it. This is pretty amazing. I never thought I'd see it under $3."A short time later the Normal Square Mini-Mart dropped its price to $2.989 per gallon.Gas prices are falling like autumn leaves across the nation.The national average price of gas dropped below $3 per gallon on Saturday for the first time since Dec. 22, 2010, ending its longest streak ever above that price, according to AAA.The national average on Tuesday morning was $2.993 a gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That's down from $3.056 a week ago.As of early Tuesday the average price of a gallon of gas in the Stroudsburg area was $3.156, down from $3.219 last week. In Lehighton, the average price was $3.049 a gallon, down from $3.117. In Tamaqua, the price was $3.070, down from $3.103, and in Palmerton, gas was $3.102 a gallon, down from $3.120, according to AAA."According to EIA's weekly survey, as of Monday, the U.S. average retail price of regular gasoline dropped below $3 per gallon for the first time since December 2010, driven largely by declines in the price of crude oil, said EIA spokesman Jonathan Cogan."Crude oil prices have fallen because of a weakening outlook for global oil demand growth, the return to the market of previously disrupted Libyan crude oil production, and continued growth in U.S. tight oil production. Because changes in the wholesale gasoline price tend to be fully passed through to retail prices with a lag, current wholesale prices indicate that retail gasoline prices could fall further in the coming weeks," he said.The average cost of gas has dropped an average of 34 cents per gallon over the past 37 days, according to AAA.It's a welcome relief after a long stretch of high prices."The national average gas price was above $3 for 1,409 consecutive days. During that time, U.S. gas prices averaged $3.52 per gallon and climbed as high as $3.98 per gallon on May 5, 2011," AAA said.Diesel prices are also falling. As of Tuesday morning, diesel cost an average of $3.623 a gallon, down from $3.635 last week.A clerk at the Exxon station in Lehighton, owned by Vista Fuels, said the prices there flipped to $2.999 at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.That's good news for Jennifer Ketchledge of Weissport. Early Tuesday morning, she pulled up to the pump at the Exxon station on Blakeslee Boulevard in Lehighton."I was happily surprised. I don't drive a lot I work in Jim Thorpe. But I run my three children all over the place, and it kind of gets expensive. I was spending at least $40 or $50 a week on gas. I hope it gets better," she said.Next door at the Sunoco station, Casey Weiss of Brodheadsville filled his car's gas tank, also for $2.999 a gallon."I'm a veterinarian who has a mobile practice, so I do a lot of driving," he said. "I probably drive a minimum of 400 to 500 miles a week. The price has come down now, so I'll save on my gas bill. But I still think the price is overinflated for no reason. A fair price should be around $1.50."Donald Fegley Jr., who owns several area gas stations, said his company adjusts prices as they sell their supply."If the price is lower, we lower it. The prices at the bigger stations will drop quicker because they are selling more gas," he said."A lot of times, branded gas is a little more expensive because it contains detergent. Exxon Mobile, Sunoco, and Valero have more detergent and cleaners in their gasoline."Tuesday's sudden drop in gas prices "came as a surprise to everybody," Fegley said."Hopefully it's not short-lived, but I don't have any faith that it will stay down. A lot of it is driven by politics, I think."