Best time to buy gasoline

Al Tompkins says:
You may have seen an e-mail that is making the rounds, urging you to purchase gasoline in the morning hours when the fuel is at its coolest. The e-mail says cold gasoline is more dense, so you get more fuel for your money if you get gas in the morning. When you pump during the heat of the day, especially in the summer, the argument goes that you are buying more vapor than when the gas is cold.

This sounded crazy to me. I mean, the tanks are underground -- how much heat or cold could actually get into them? But in 2006, The Kansas City (Mo.) Star investigated the story and found it to be rooted in truth. Temperature really does have something to do with gasoline density.

In fact, it could amount to a few pennies per gallon that motorists get shorted in the summer. There are some who argue that pumps should be temperature-adjusted as they are in Hawaii. NPR picked up the story this summer.

If all of that is true, it seems as though in the winter, those of you living in the coldest areas would benefit from the weather. The gasoline industry says any benefits it gets in the summer are wiped out in the winter. But what about areas like Florida, Texas, Nevada, California or Arizona, where it gets real hot but not real cold? The tilt goes to the gas station, not the customer.

Have you noticed how people just seem to forget New Mexico is stuck in there somewhere? That's okay. Miami-Dade County has more people in the county than in the whole state of NM, and I like it that way. Also it gets VERY cold in Nevada for Mr. Thompkins information.. but that is just a slight error in an otherwise good article..