The National Weather Service in Burlington has issued a flood watch for Wednesday night through Friday morning across the majority of the state.
The weather service reports that a large part of Vermont will receive between 1.5 and 2.5 inches of rain, with some areas seeing as many as 3 inches, in particular, the southern Green Mountains and the Adirondacks.
Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Rutland, Lamoille, Orange, Washington and Windsor counties are included in the flood watch.
Peter Banacos, lead meteorologist at the weather service in Burlington, said some minor flooding of rivers is expected, along with street flooding as storm drains get clogged with fallen leaves.
Banacos said though heavy rain is not outside the norm for this time of year, the low pressure expected in this week’s storms could be a “near record” for October in New England.
Wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour will likely blow leaves off trees, clogging storm drains, Banacos said. He said certain areas might also see isolated power outages because of the wind.
“The average person may encounter some street flooding, with leaves likely coming down in droves over the next 24 hours,” he said.
The rain is developing now in the mid-Atlantic, according to Banacos, and tracking Northeast overnight.
The rain will hit the hardest overnight into tomorrow, Banacos said. The National Weather Service reported that rivers will generally crest late Thursday afternoon through pre-dawn hours Friday. The flood watch is in effect until 8 a.m. Friday.