The MetService warns a rapidly deepening low will make its way up the country today, bringing with it strong winds and ''horizontal rain'' that could cause rivers and streams to rise rapidly overnight.
Drivers are being asked to take care as strong gusts of wind and surface flooding are likely.
Cold air is expected to follow tomorrow, bringing the temperatures down to 5degC at night and snow to 1000m possibly affecting the Crown Range Rd.
Visitor centres in both Queenstown and Wanaka have said it has been a season of refunds and rescheduling for tourists wanting to go on water and air-based activities due to the constant high winds.
Queenstown Skytrek Tandem Hang Gliding and Paragliding manager Shai Lanuel said this was one of the worst Januarys he had experienced.
Watersports Queenstown employee Jeff Thompson said ''the weather has been a total bummer - everybody is feeling the hurt''.
He said at this time of year they would normally be open seven days a week but they had been operating only one or two days a week since the beginning of the month.
Skydive Wanaka general manager Blake Mason said they have been flying in the mornings only. Normally, they would be taking an average of 150 customers skydiving a day, but are managing just under half that number, he said.
''The customers know it's the weather and we can't do anything about it, and they understand we are not flying for safety reasons.''
Heliworks Helicopters Queenstown general manager Richard Mills said figures for tourist flights in November were not ''flash''; December was ''painful'' but January so far is ''really bad''.
He said historically the winds come in October and are gone by late November, and everyone keeps asking ''when is the weather going to come right?''
MetService meterologist Lisa Murray confirmed the spring winds had continued but said the winds were not constant.
''There are a few days where you have gusts of wind, but most days have quite fresh winds every day and that's why people feel the wind is never going away.''
