Sheboygan County says it’s in good shape when it comes to road salt ahead of an expected spring snow storm. The county had been down to about a third of its salt supply in late February during a nationwide salt shortage, however a neighboring municipality offered some of their supply to sell to Sheboygan County.
In downtown Sheboygan, grass is turning green, trees are starting to bud and some people are even wearing shorts, but it may be hard to “think spring” in 37 degrees with several inches of snow on the way.
“I’m not ready for it, I thought it was over but I guess we just got to prepare for what’s coming,” Kao Vang of Sheboygan said.
A rough Sheboygan winter brought dozens of inches of snow, especially in January and February.
“We had a terrible, terrible winter and very cold temperatures. So we’re all dying for spring and don’t want to hear snow in the forecast,” Tricia of Sheboygan said.
The forecast shows Sheboygan County could get 4 inches of snow between 7 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday morning, once again putting the county’s dwindling salt supply to the test during a statewide salt shortage.
A Sheboygan snow plow company said there are three major salt suppliers for Wisconsin. One was depleted last summer due to mine flooding and another had a worker strike leaving just one with a full supply.
Back in February, Sheboygan County was down to about a third of its salt supply. At the time, they were told it would be tough to find more if they were to run out.
Sheboygan County had been rationing its salt by mixing it with sand to get through the winter season. The county transportation director said they were able to buy 500 tons from West Bend to ensure they have enough to keep their 2,200 miles of roads safe for these spring storms.
The Sheboygan County transportation director says they spent the past couple of days pre-treating the roads. Once the snow starts falling, they’ll be applying salt to keep the snow from turning to ice.
