HOWLAND — With Thursday’s winter storm and its icy conditions long anticipated, officials were given a better idea of where the township stands with its road salt supply.

Public Works Director David McCann said Wednesday that while he didn’t have all of 2025’s statistics, he said the township was at average usage.

“We usually use between 2,700 and 3,000 tons of salt per year; we’ve exceeded 1,700 so far,” McCann said. “We’re a little over the average, but I’m hoping that this little storm we have tonight won’t be too bad.”

McCann echoed the troubles officials from Hubbard and Liberty have reported about salt mines, explaining the extreme weather has impacted the country.

“Salt mines are in a little bit of a stress mode, and there’s some difficulty in receiving some of the salts we’ve requested — not just us, Mahoning County, Columbiana County,” McCann said. “All of the counties in the state are receiving a little bit of problems getting the allotment that they were asking for because of what happened over the last six weeks.”

McCann said he expects the township to be fine if the remaining winter months are normal, but to preserve their remaining supply, he’s switched to a mix of three parts salt, one part aggregate.

“If it continues the way it is, then I don’t want to be in the mode where, come the end of February, I’m without salt and can’t get it from the county,” McCann said. “What I can get from them, I’m blending and stretching.”

McCann said his department has previously received complaints from residents because of the aggregate, due to it tracking into driveways.

“It’s a situation that we just have to do what we have to do, to make sure we have the material to put down on the roads when the weather’s not right,” McCann said.

McCann said he thinks this year’s winter could affect salt prices for next year, noting that it’s been “pretty steady” over the last five years — sitting between $37 to $43 per ton.

“It’s gone as high as $70 a ton, normally when we’ve had extreme weather. I don’t anticipate it getting that bad — it equals out to a normal winter,” McCann said.