The search for the two killers who broke out of an upstate prison expanded into Vermont on Wednesday, officials said.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said the inmates may have been planning to head to the Green Mountain State to avoid the heat generated by their escape from the maximum-security slammer in Dannemora, N.Y.

“We have information that suggests they thought that New York was going to be hot and Vermont would be cooler, in terms of law enforcement, and a camp in Vermont would be a better place to be,” Shumlin told a news conference outside the Clinton Correctional Facility.

Vermont state troopers have been searching Lake Champlain and sites along the shore for any sign of escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat, state police Col. Tom L’Esperance said.

The 125-mile-long lake separates New York and Vermont, and its western shore is less than 15 miles from Dannemora.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the possibility they fled to Vermont was based on a “tip” received since the convicts were discovered missing from their cells early Saturday.

New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico refused to say how officials developed the information.