WNYT in Albany reports it could be a warmer winter than usual, but still cost local towns more as salt prices are higher this year. In part, the cold temperatures and snow last winter are to blame for depleted salt reserves. Salt is also in short supply because of a leak in a Cargill salt mine 1,800 feet under Lake Erie near Cleveland. There was also an 11-week strike at the largest operating underground salt mine in the world, the Goderich mine under Lake Huron, near Ontario. "It doesn't mean that we're going to stop salting, it just means that it's going to be more expensive to get these materials," said Jack Cunningham, public works commissioner in the Albany suburb of Colonie, where salt is costing the town five percent more than last year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently issued an outlook for a warmer and drier winter in the northern United States. Read the full story at the WNYT website.