The wild weather that is hitting Otago has disrupted Queenstown's Winter Festival, causing organisers to reschedule two of today's events.
Following heavy rain in the resort, the Birdman and Mountain Bikes on Snow have been postponed until tomorrow.
The mountain bikes event was to have been held at Coronet Peak, which is closed today after rain overnight saturated the snow pack.
Rain is forecast to continue today, and freezing level is forecast to drop to 400m later this evening.
NZSki chief executive James Coddington told the Otago Daily Times this afternoon he expected Coronet Peak to "bounce back very quickly", with snow forecast from 6pm [tonight] and again on Monday.
"It's looking very, very positive for snow through Tuesday as well.
"I'll be very surprised if we don't get a good [snow fall] out of this front."
Mr Coddington said a "good dusting" was expected tonight, with snow down to 500m on Monday, with a possibility it could fall on the ground in Queenstown by Tuesday.
While the Coronet Peak snow pack was "saturated", it would drain out quickly.
"That's exactly what it will do this afternoon - we want to drain the water and then the snow will come on top of it, it will set up beautifully."
The rain lashing Otago has been accompanied by strong northwest winds and there were fears of surface flooding and slips around the region.
MetService earlier issued a severe weather warning for a burst of heavy rainfall for the West Coast, with significant spill-over into the headwaters of Otago's lakes and rivers from last night until 3pm today.
Strong northwest winds were likely to bring significant rainfall to the headwaters, with 80mm to 100mm of rain forecast up to 20km east of the Divide, it said. Peak intensities of 15mm to 20mm an hour overnight were expected.
Rivers and lakes were likely to rise rapidly.
