UPDATED 10:38am — The Government forecaster has this morning re-issued rain warnings for Canterbury, Otago and Southland.

After a considerable dry spell for much of the southern half of the South Island lately, rain is expected to be heavy at times with the high country and foothills likely to see rainfall totals of 70 to 100mm up until noon Wednesday.

One WeatherWatch.co.nz reader commented last night that it’s not often that a rain warning is issued for Central Otago.

Snow is also expected to be heavy down to about the 800 metre mark with some falls dropping to about 600 metres however this should mainly affect alpine passes and roads at that altitude.Queenstown sits just above the 300 metre mark.

WeatherWatch analyst Richard Green says “It seems that the heaviest rain is likely to be over Mid and South Canterbury down to Southland but further north could still see some activity with hail possible as well”.

Winds are expected to blow in from the southwest making the ‘feels like’ temperature much colder than the actual readings today.

Surface flooding and slips could occur as a result of the rainfall amount and motorists are being advised to take care over the next couple of days.