The rain totals expected to accompany a winter-like storm headed toward the mid-valley on Tuesday could be "pretty impressive," said meteorologist George Taylor.

This type of storm is relatively rare this time of year, said Taylor, who operates Applied Climate Services in Corvallis. On the satellite and weather maps it looks like a legitimate winter storm.

"The real weather action, however, will be at the coast," he said. "The coast will get the strongest winds and the heaviest rains."

Wind gusts in the mid-valley on Tuesday will range between 5 and 15 miles an hour, with gusts up to 21 mph. There is a 40 percent chance of showers, with daytime temperatures around 76 degrees. The Tuesday night low is predicted to be 59 degrees.

On Wednesday, there is a 70 percent chance of rain with a high of 72 degrees and a low of 56. Winds will be around 14 mph with gusts up to 21 mph.

The rain will turn to showers on Thursday with the high at 74.

Sunny skies will be back on Friday in time for the weekend. The Friday high is expected to be 83 degrees and on Saturday it will be about 87 degrees.

Over the past three days, the mid-valley has experienced "an interesting sequence of three extreme weather events," Taylor said. There was a significant heat wave that set a number of records, and then the temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees, he said. And now the rain is here.

Temperatures hovered near the 100-degree mark until Sunday, when warm, moist air from the southwest dropped temperatures to around 80 degrees. One of the hottest temperatures in the state recorded during the heat wave was in Medford, where it was 108 degrees for two days in a row.

Thunderstorms hit the mid-valley Saturday night, and returned again the next evening. That second storm, however, was not as significant as the one that started Saturday night and carried into Sunday morning.

Taylor did not know what was causing the weather extremes.

"It just is what it is," he said.