(NECN: Scot Yount, Chelsea, Mass.) - “Definitely a couple thousand tons. Yeah, everybody is getting ready for orange snow,” laughed the man in charge of the salt, Kenny Whitehead.
No matter what color it is, cities and towns want to be ready. At the Chelsea salt dock, trucks and loaders cue up to load between 8 and 10 million pounds of salt. Which means this dock is busy.
“Towns are already prepared for it. But some towns aren’t. And they are calling now and we trying to get it out to them as fast as we can,” said Whitehead.
And, most of it will be needed. The salt here in the famous piles under the red white and blue tarps comes from Mexico and Chile by the way, but no matter where it comes from, it is likely headed to a street or roadway near you as forecasters are predicting the biggest October Nor'easter in, well, a long time.
Earlier in the week, Logan Airport showed it was ready with 75 pieces of equipment also cued up and ready to battle any storm. The airport has won national awards in the past for its snow removal effectiveness. They are ready they say, citing the toughness of last year, yet they never officially shut down.
“Depending on the type of precipitation, we usually can get it done in at least 12 minutes with all the equipment going across the runway,” said Ed Freni, director of aviation at Massport.
So while the rest of us are adjusting mentally to the need for all this salt, others are rushing out to buy that last minute snow shovel, batteries or salt of our own for that matter. Which makes us wonder, is the salt guy ready?
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“No, I have to get home and rake my yard,” laughed Whitehead.
