The New Castle mayor is warning of a salt shortage.
He says it's a problem that's widespead across the region.

It's a supply and demand issue.
Many communities in Northeast Ohio and in Western PA have seen dwindling supplies of rock salt as of late.
This comes after two mild winters allowed them to stock up.

This winter, however, has been a lot different.

It got cold and snowy quickly this winter season.
Road departments had to start salting right around Thanksgiving and haven't let up much since.

As a result, available rock salt supplies have been used faster than they could be replenished in many communities.

"Our supplier is Cargill. We are getting salt but obviously it's not enough. We are waiting in line for 3 hours because trucks are lined up to get the salt," said New Castle Mayor, Mark Elsico.

Cargill has told local media that their Cleveland facility is working overtime and that they "...work year-round to produce enough salt to meet the needs of the communities we serve. Sometimes winter weather is unpredictable and dedicated production teams and strong supply chains help producers keep up when winter weather hits."

So what can cities and townships do with smaller supplies? Plow more and salt less.

"We have 5 or 6 trucks out equipped with plows. we are plowing the side roads It's mostly going to be on hills. it's going to be on bridges and main roads. When we get time we'll be plowing the other roads but it's a problem for us," said Elsico.

Flat, residential streets may receive little or no salt but curves, intersections and hills will be.

In the meantime, maybe the best advice for Sunday comes from the New Castle Mayor. "Probably the most responsible thing for our residents to do on Sunday is stay home, to be perfectly honest!"