The National Weather Service has expanded a flood watch for almost the entire state of Vermont for Wednesday, meteorologist Eric Myskowski said on Tuesday. 

Early Tuesday morning, the weather service issued a flood watch starting Wednesday afternoon for the western half of the state. But the service later issued an expanded notice for every Vermont county except Grand Isle. 

The weather service has forecasted 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain falling on Wednesday, but another concern was rising temperatures in the 40s or even 50s in some areas, Myskowski said. That rise is expected to cause the snow already on the ground to melt. 

“Right now, across central and eastern Vermont, there’s probably about one to two inches of snow liquid on the ground — getting close to three or a little more at the highest elevation,” he said. “A decent amount of that is going to end up melting out into the rivers.”

On Tuesday morning, the river forecast predicted that several rivers will reach flood stage, although none are expected to go as high as the historic July floods of 2023 and 2024. The most severe forecast was for Otter Creek in Rutland, which was forecast to reach moderate flood stage on Thursday morning. 

The Mad River in Moretown, Vt., and Little River near the Waterbury Reservoir were forecasted to reach minor flood stage, the weather service reported. Seven other rivers statewide were forecasted to reach “action” levels. “Action level” is below the official flood stage, but the water level is such that the weather service recommends that local officials take action to mitigate flood risk. 

There was also a risk of flash flooding in smaller creeks and water bodies, Myskowski said. He recommended that Vermonters take care not to drive through floodwaters. 

The weather service also forecasted areas of freezing rain on Tuesday. The flood watch begins on Wednesday at 1 p.m. and is set to last until Thursday at 7 a.m.