A national salt supply shortage recently forced a New York governor to declare a state disaster emergency. Apparently, unanticipated winter storms have quickly depleted the salt supply, leaving various departments of public works without necessary tools to create safe streets and walkways.

MassLive reports that salt suppliers shipped 1.8 million tons of salt for the entirety of the 2024 winter season. Meanwhile, through January 2025 the supplier has already shipped over 2.1 million tons of salt.

This historic demand is speculated to be due to the long stretches of cold weather that require salting roads for even very small snowfall events.

Due to the demand, the New York order has temporarily suspended a state law that requires the purchase of American-made rock salt or sodium chloride. The state disaster emergency is in effect until March 16.

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