The unseasonably warm weather isn’t the only sign of an early spring. Roiled by the specter of Iranian oil cutoffs, gas prices are rising at a record pace, crossing the $4-a-gallon threshold in some parts of the country, and threatening to break an all-time high, experts say.

Fears of $5 per gallon gasoline are in the back of some motorists’ minds, jeopardizing the nascent economic recovery and fueling campaign rhetoric during a presidential election year.

“Everybody was worried about Europe as being the precipitating factor to sort of throw the world into a slowdown,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. “Higher oil prices could do that too.”

Creeping up steadily over the last month, the national average for a gallon of regular hit $3.57 Monday — up from $3.17 a year ago, according to AAA. Prices typically rise in the spring across the country, as suppliers introduce a warm-weather fuel blend that burns cleaner and costs more money.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune.