Snow That Turns to Ice Leads to a Run on Rock Salt

ROCKFORD - The storm from Thursday night into Friday is just like most of the other storms the Stateline has seen this winter season.  It's expected to produce a small amount of snow and that generally gets left to turn into ice.  Because of the ice, hardware stores have been stockpiling salt and it's flying out the door.

"I want my driveway completely clean," said Jesse Gray, joining the countless others loading up on snow salt on Thursday at Nicholson Hardware.

"We're supposed to get some snow between now and the morning, so I'm buying some salt now to be ready for the morning when I get up," explained Gray.

Gray was not alone - in fact most everyone that went to Nicholson Hardware in Rockford's midtown section came in to buy salt.  Co-owner of the store, Scott Nicholson, says salt sales have been driving his sales this winter.

"We haven't had that major snow event it seems like - that really drives the shovel and snowblower sales," said Nicholson.

"But we've had a lot of small ice events where we can sell a truckload of salt in a day."

The display of car lock de-icer at the register is nearly empty at the hardware store.  The salt is close to gone too.  In just the last 24 hours, Nicholson has sold over 700 50-pound bags of salt, totaling 35,000 pounds of salt sold in the last two days.

"In terms of salt availability, a lot of stores have elected to move on - it's seasonal, and they're done carrying it for the winter," said Nicholson.

But Nicholson says his store will keep salt stocked until the last forecasted snow.