Weather: Southerly blast to bring snow to 100m in parts of Otago, Southland

After last week's dump of snow another cold front is expected to hit the South tomorrow. Photo / Gregor Richardson

A southerly blast is expected to bring snow to 100m and strong winds to parts of Otago and Southland, the MetService is warning.

A severe weather watch for snow is in place from 2am to 8am Wednesday covering inland parts of northern Southland and the southern half of Otago.

Snow was forecast to lower to 100m and could briefly become heavy. Snow amounts could approach warning criteria above 400m during this time.

A snow watch was also in place for Fiordland south of Dusky Sound between 9pm tomorrow and 6am Wednesday.

A strong wind watch was also in place for much of Otago and Southland from today.

Rain, wind and snow on the way!

The animation shows the track of the rain.

Check https://t.co/ePtVj8cXwp for a heads up on the Severe Weather ^Lewis pic.twitter.com/w5jbF3Sl9Y

— MetService (@MetService) July 4, 2021

For inland parts of Otago northwest winds could approach severe gale in the 24 hours from 3pm this afternooon.

The same watch was in place for Southland west and north of Mossburn, and Fiordland, but from 9am this morning to 11am tomorrow.

A heavy rain watch is in place for the Otago headwaters for the 12 hours from 3am tomorrow.

Meanwhile, back ice has caused at least seven crashes on South Island roads so far this morning.

Senior Sergeant Craig Dinnissen, of Dunedin, said police were continuing to deal with crashes around the city due to icy conditions.