As more snow hits the northeast and midwest, numerous cities are on their last portions of salt at a time where it's needed the most when the bitter cold turns into warmer temperatures able to turn snow into freezing rain, covering the roads with sleet, the Associated Press reported.
Due to the increase in snowstorms, demand for snow-melting salt has increased along with the price, leaving communities with debating whether to ration out salt or come up with new materials to use for melting the ice, according to the AP.
In Pennsylvania, the transportation department ran through 686,000 tons of salt, more than the usual amount of 200,000 tons, the AP reported.
"After two mild winters, the severe weather has caught a lot of people off guard," Lori Roman, president of the Salt Institute, told the AP.
Cities can buy salt before the snow season at the lowest price, but currently, salt costs almost three time most than in the earlier part of the season, the AP reported. The worry is if they wait longer to buy more, they could end up paying even more.
The short supply has caused cities to search for other ways to stretch it until the end of the season by mixing it with sand, according to the AP. Some cities have begun only spreading salts on major roads and highways.
In Indiana, there is almost no salt left and Morgan County is mixing their supply with sand and only spreading it throughout the hills, the AP reported.
"We can only do what we can do," Morgan County engineer Larry Smith said, according to the AP.
In Milwaukee, road crews are trying mixing the snow with cheese brine and rock salt to make the salt wetter "so it will stick in place instead of bouncing away," Sandy Rusch Walton, Milwaukee Public Works Department spokeswoman said, the AP reported.
Even the mixing of salt with sand doesn't entirely solve the problem, according to deputy director of the city's public works and utilities department Joseph T. Pajor, according to the AP.
"Sand gives you some traction to get started, to stop, but it doesn't do any melting," Pajor told the AP.
Salt suppliers were warning some communities to begin rationing their salt because there is no more on the way, but other communities have managed to find salt for sale at high prices, the AP reported.
"So the municipalities that could buy bulk salt early in the year at $53 a ton are now paying $130 a ton a week ago," Tom Breier, general manager of Ice Melt Chicago, told the AP. "And I heard the prices have gone up to $175 to $180 a ton. It could easily go to $200 a ton or more."
