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Incoming: Heavy rain, snow to hit region again Monday Feb 20, 2017 at 3:04 PM Feb 20, 2017 at 4:33 PM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman Strong winds, heavy rains and as much as 2 feet of snow at upper elevations is expected tonight and Tuesday in Northern California from a storm front expected to only sideswipe the Rogue Valley during another wacky weather week here. Yet another atmospheric river barreling in from the southwest is expected to drop more than a half-inch of rain today through Tuesday afternoon in Medford and Ashland, and winds will again whip through the valley, according to the National Weather Service. The service has issued a winter storm warning in effect from 10 p.m. tonight through 10 a.m. Tuesday for portions of Siskiyou County above 5,000 feet, where heavy snows and 30-mph wind gusts will make travel hazardous. Mount Ashland and Crater Lake are expected to get a foot of snow from this storm front. "The ski resorts will benefit from that," Weather Service meteorologist Jay Stockton said. "And it doesn't look like the winds will be as bad as they were this morning. "The biggest impact will be Northern California," Stockton said. "They'll be getting the most precipitation, for sure." Some localized flooding is forecast for Northern California, as well as in portions of Josephine and Curry counties, which once again will absorb the brunt of the storm's force in Southern Oregon. Brookings, Gold Beach and Port Orford are all forecast to get more than 2 inches of rain by Tuesday evening, with rain at times falling as much as a quarter-inch an hour while snow levels remain high, according to the Weather Service. "We're worried that the rain combining with the snowmelt will boost stream flows more than normal," Stockton said. The Rogue River was forecast to swell to close to 10,000 cubic feet per second at Dodge Bridge near Eagle Point early Tuesday morning, but it will remain well within its banks there, according to the NOAA Northwest River Forecast Center. This latest front will be replaced with a colder one that will plunge the snow level Wednesday morning to about 2,000 feet — low enough to dust the upper reaches of Ashland, Stockton said. Forecasters expect light snow on the Rogue Valley floor Thursday and Friday mornings, Stockton said. "It'll be more like a dusting and it probably won't stick around very long," Stockton said. — Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.