AUGUSTA

Weather forecasters who are keeping a wary eye on Maine’s frozen rivers said Thursday there’s an abovenormal threat of flooding and ice jams for most of the state over the next few weeks.

Temperatures approaching 60 degrees today — and followed by rain and snow — could cause some problems this weekend, officials told the River Flow Advisory Commission. After that, a forecast for cooler temperatures without major rainfall over the coming week to 10 days will produce a slow-butsteady melting of the snowpack.

Nonetheless, officials remain concerned enough about the flood threat to schedule another meeting on April 16.

“It’s getting close to conditions that’ll create rapid snowmelt,” said Tom Hawley, hydrologist from the National Weather Service bureau in Gray.

Heavy rainfall is the biggest factor when it comes to spring flooding and ice jams on rivers in Maine. But the melting snowpack and ice are also big contributors.

Even though some fields are clear of snow, there’s still plenty of deep snow in the woods and mountainous areas that serve as headwaters for the major rivers, officials said.

The snowpack is deeper than normal for early April, thanks to colder-than-normal temperatures.

“I’ve been describing this to some people as saying the calendar is broken. I think it’s off by three weeks,” U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Greg Stewart said.

So far, stream flows are below normal as the snowpack holds the water.

Coast Guard officials reported Thursday that it has successfully broken ice on the Kennebec River north to Gardiner and the Penobscot River north to Bangor in the past two weeks. Thick ice stymied previous efforts last month to break ice on the Penobscot River.

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