A record snowfall and cold winter has many towns running low on salt and using beet juice.

Beet juice? Why do they use it? It's simple science according to Dr. Jerry Kavouras, Chair and Associate Professor of Biology at Lewis University in Illinois.

Kavouras said beet juice lowers the freezing point of snow to as much as -20 degrees Fahrenheit. Salt becomes ineffective at 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

It also helps that there’s no shortage of beet juice, a waste product that remains after the sugar is extracted from sugar beets. There’s plenty of the waste product. According to Kavouras, sugar beets account for 20 percent of the world’s sugar supply.

Read more about the use of beet juice to de-ice roads at: http://www.lewisu.edu/experts/wordpress/index.php/beet-juice-in-my-road-salt/