Central Illinois has already experienced more of winter in the past few weeks than we may have all of last year.

Bringing a more wintery feel to the area is going to mean more work for local city streets departments. Steve Lobb, Public Works Director for the City of Clinton says the blizzard central Illinois experienced just before Christmas made keeping the roads suitable for travel difficult.

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With last year being one of the more mild winters in recent memory, the Clinton Streets Department used little to no salt, which left a large reserve heading into this year. Since there is so much left from last year's inventory, that left the City needing very little salt to be purchased heading into the winter of 2013.

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While the city has a nice amount of salt on hand for any and all snow falls this year, Lobb explains they are not going to waste any salt. Like just about every commodity, salt is an expensive one right now.

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Because salt alone can have such a negative impact on the roads and travelers cars, Lobb says they try not to use the salt in excess. He explains on some roads, they will put together a sand and salt mix. That serves a two fold purpose. First to allow vehicles more traction in the slippery conditions, but to also conserve salt.

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According to theweatherchannel.com, 62% of snow is covering the United States, which is four times what we saw this time last year. Many areas both east and west of Illinois have been hit by major snow storms, but to this point this winter, it appears Illinois has escaped significant snow fall.