Up to 150mm of rain and winds gusting to 110kmh are expected for the Southern Lakes and Central Otago today.
The MetService has issued a severe weather watch for the headwaters of the Otago lakes and rivers and inland Southland from this morning.
MetService meteorologist Fulong Lu said 100mm to 150mm of rain was expected near the main divide and areas within 10km of the divide could expect 70mm to 100mm of rain.
In addition, exposed parts of Otago could expect northwesterly wind gusts of up to 110kmh.
Dunedin would probably dodge the worst of the weather as it was forecast "mostly for the high ground'', but rain was forecast, Mr Lu said.
Westland was likely to get the most rainfall and a severe weather warning was in place for areas south of Harihari, including Fiordland.
Rain was expected to spread over southern Westland early today, becoming heavy.
Between 120mm to 180mm of rain would accumulate from 9am to 2am tomorrow.
Peak intensities of 25mm an hour were possible.
Franz Josef was once again in the firing line but to a lesser extent, Mr Lu said.
"Compared to the last event, it will be much less,'' he said.
More than 180 people, mostly tourists, were evacuated from Franz Josef on March 24 after the Waiho River burst its banks.
Flooding swept through several hotels after 158.5mm of rain fell in 24 hours.
● The launching of a Nasa super pressure balloon, which was supposed to happen in Wanaka on Saturday, was postponed due to the weather.
The balloon is scheduled to be launched today.
Wanaka Airport operations manager Ralph Fegan said the weather would need to be "100%'' for it to launch.
