COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Up to 125 Ohio Department Of Transportation crews hit the roads in central Ohio Monday, trying to get ahead of Tuesday morning’s commuting woes.

It’s been a pretty mild winter so far. And while that makes a difference for our ODOT crews, It also makes a difference for some of our hardware stores too.

“I don’t remember one this mild at all,” says Steve McClary.

He’s been with Schreiner ACE Hardware on High Street for more than a decade and he’s never seen a winter like this.

“It hasn’t been the best for snow shovel sales and ice melt sales. But picking up a little this week,” he says.

This late winter storm is one of the few snow supplies mini-rushes he’s seen this year.

“It’s been mostly ice melt, de-icer,” says McClary.

Typically the store moves between 600 and 800 pounds of ice-melt per week, every few weeks as storm systems blow through. But not this year.

“Last year we prepared for an average winter and we ran out of ice melt. We were scurrying around trying to find suppliers,” he says. “This year it’s been just the opposite.”

The mini-rush for supplies started Sunday night and in just two days McClary sold 400 to 500 lbs of ice-melt. But he says this has been one of the only rushes and winter is more than half way through.

Still, he says, that means when you need to re-stock, he’ll be ready.

“But we’ve got plenty of supplies for people,” he says.

If you’re heading out to get some of those much needed snow supplies, ODOT is asking that you be extremely careful, especially into the morning commute.

As always slow down and if you see an ODOT truck, give them plenty of room to work.

Also, don’t forget, those trucks have to move slowly enough to be effective, meaning you want to slow down well before you come up on them.