We may not have snow in the forecast any time soon, but the people who plow it have been preparing for months.
Salt suppliers say not only are they finding it difficult to get the same amount of salt they got last year, but also, the prices have nearly tripled.
"We started out this year in a shortage situation from last year, so many of the suppliers didn't get a chance to rebuild inventories. So that, in turn, drove prices up," said Cliff Walkington, general manager of Hammond Farms.
Experts say that's because two of the four salt mines in the Midwest region had production issues, which included a strike and a leak.
"We were allotted about 60% of last year's, and we did secure some other salt, but that was tough to find," said Walkington.
He says some of the salt in their barns this year came from Africa.
"We haven't seen pricing this high to start a season since we've been involved, which has been eight or nine years now, but there have been shortages. It does go up and down. It's just probably a tougher start to the year than we've ever seen," said Walkington.
Not all of the roads will be slick.
Government agencies get first dibs in the available salt.
Andy Kilpatrick, Lansing's director of public service, says the city should be just fine.
The city has more salt scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks.
Contractors like Sneller Snow Systems are the ones who will be impacted.
"I'm sure the roads are going to be fine. It's going to be the parking lots at the shopping centers and some of the doctor's offices and so forth that could be seeing a lot less salt this winter," said Jeff Sneller, owner of Sneller Snow Systems.
This likely means that residents will need to be a lot more careful this winter.
"When there's not enough salt, there's more slipping and falling, and slip and fall lawsuits are really a big factor in our industry. So when salt gets short, it's not just an inconvenience, but it really causes a safety issue," said Sneller.
Sneller says his company should be set for this winter, but Hammond Farms likely won't be able to take on any new customers because of the shortage.
