Warnings are being issued as furious bursts of severe weather are forecast to strike New Zealand in the week ahead.
Stormy systems over the Southern Ocean will drive a number of fronts over the country, which means heavy West Coast rain, heavy alpine snow and gales at times.
"It is going to be very stormy for a wee while, producing a huge amount of energy over the Southern Ocean - and that's very normal for this time of the year," WeatherWatch head forecaster Philip Duncan says.
"Mark your calendars - Tuesday, Wednesday, there's a chance with some severe weather in both main islands of New Zealand."
On Saturday a windy cold change moves up the country, with rain on the West Coast and snow on the South Island's mountains.
For the lower South Island, a heavy rain watch has been issued for Fiordland and the headwaters of Otago lakes and rivers. There's a strong wind watch for coastal parts of Dunedin, Clutha and Southland as well as Stewart Island, and a road snowfall warning for Milford Road.
For the central South Island, there are heavy rain watches for Westland and the headwaters of Canterbury lakes and rivers, and a strong wind watch for the Canterbury High Country and Marlborough south of Ward.
Further up the country there are strong wind watches for Nelson west of Motueka, Wairarapa north of Martinborough (including the Remutaka Hill) and Hawke's Bay south of Hastings.
Then on Tuesday a "blowout" is forecast between high-pressure zones on either side of New Zealand which will allow a "big Antarctic southerly" to erupt up over the country.
"By the end of Tuesday [we'll see] snow flurries along the Desert Road for example. We'll be seeing snow along the mountains of the Southern Alps with heavy falls - over a metre of snow coming in quite a short time. And then down in Southland westerlies to begin with but there's the southerly portion coming along," Duncan says.
"By Wednesday [the cold southerly] gets knocked away by the westerly wind. Still cold and you'll notice probably the coldest day for the North Island, snow flurries in central plateau and generally wet and wintry across the country.
"Snow flurries we think will get down to maybe 300m - not as bad as what we had on Monday but still a system that's going to be producing pretty cold wind chill as it comes on through."
