The weekend delivered pretty much what was expected with strong winds, heavy rain and rising river levels.

Caravans were overturned in high winds, surface flooding entered vehicles and State Highway One was closed between Christchurch and Dunedin yesterday, as floodwaters submerged the highway near Ashburton.
The Rangitata river was flowing a metre deep at one point yesterday over SH1, making it impassable.
Prolonged heavy rain in the high country rapidly rose river levels overnight on Saturday and throughout Sunday . 

On a postive note nationally, temperatures were high in northern and eastern areas with the low to mid 20s topped from Whangarei down to Dunedin at one point over the weekend.

Out west, conditions are expected to slowly improve from tomorrow over the mainland this week, after a very damp weekend in places.
Northwesterly rains hammered parts of the coast making conditions soggy and miserable for many locals.

Further north, Wellingtonians copped a pasting overnight on Saturday and yesterday morning, as severe gales roared into the capital and gusting to almost 120kph. Hawkes bay didn’t escape the big blow either, with a tree blowing over on SH2 north of Napier yesterday morning. 

This week a different story is panning out for the country, as much colder air is expected to bring wintry conditions to many regions, with snow levels lowering in southern and central areas.

Single digit highs are likely from Invercargill to Kaikoura midweek with snow in these areas ranging from 600 metres, to near sea level in the far south.