Heavy rains forecast for later this week and snowmelt are expected to combine and cause flooding in some low-lying areas of New England and parts of upstate New York.
The National Weather Service has issued flood watches for much of the region beginning Thursday and running through Saturday morning.
Up to 1.5 inches of rain, expected to begin falling Thursday morning, is forecast for parts of Vermont, and the rain and above-freezing temperatures are expected to add the equivalent of a ½-inch of water to the region’s rivers and streams, said Robert Deal, a National Weather Service meteorologist at the Burlington office, which also covers part of upstate New York.
“Generally when we have an above normal snow year, and this year in Burlington we crossed the 100-inch plateau so this is an above normal snow pack, with that we would expect some sort of spring flood, and it looks like it’s going to happen this weekend,” Deal said.
Most flooding will be low-lying areas along rivers, although some road flooding also is possible, Deal said.
Meteorologist Eric Schwibs, of the weather service’s Gray, Maine, office, said a 2-inch rainfall combined with snowmelt in the mountains would create big problems because the ground is saturated from melting snow thanks to warming temperatures. “Between the rain and snowmelt, it’s going to push river levels up,” he said.
Flooding is a possibility tonight and Friday on smaller tributaries, and the larger rivers could run high through the weekend, he said.
The forecast will be subject of discussion during a regularly scheduled meeting of the Maine River Flow Advisory Commission today in Augusta.
In Vermont, flooding is most likely along the Otter Creek, Winooski and Mad rivers.
The flood watch is also in effect for Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.