By Maya Meinert
Special to the Daily Press

SM BEACH — The surf’s up, but surfers may not be.

This weekend’s waves are predicted to be as high as 15 feet in some places, which may sound like a surfer’s dream. But because these waves are the result of a storm coming in from the Pacific Northwest, the waters are not expected to be very “surfable.”

The storm is already being blamed for three deaths in Washington state, loss of power for about one and a half million homes and businesses in Washington and Oregon, and has prompted the cancellation of flights in both Seattle and Portland, according to the Associated Press.

Most waves will be 4 to 6 feet, at the shoulder. But Zach Solomon, a buyer and resident surf reporter for surf shop ZJ Boarding House on Main Street, said the waters will likely be stormy and choppy. He said if there is an onshore wind, where the wind pushes inland, surfing will not be good.

“Surfers despise an onshore wind,” Solomon said.

He also said that sometimes storms move out and around California, and when they come back around, they push offshore winds along the ocean, which is good for surfing. But the predictions for this weekend’s surf don’t look so favorable.

As of Friday morning, Solomon hadn’t heard much from surfers about the waves, and didn’t really expect to.

“We won’t get too many people talking about it when it’s like this,” he said.

In addition to choppy waves, surfers — and anyone else going into the water — will have to be careful of the rip currents associated with above-normal surf.

Also, high winds of 15 to 25 miles per hour at the beach and at sea will come along with the storm on Saturday. The winds should begin to die down on Sunday.

Both Saturday’s and Sunday’s morning high tides will be over 5 feet at the Santa Monica Pier, which is expected to remain open over the weekend, according to the Santa Monica Harbor Patrol.

“[The pier] stays open all the time,” said harbor officer Dan Buchanan. “It only closes if there is really, really high surf.”

He advised people not to get too close to the water if there is heavy surf or a high tide, but this weekend’s waves probably wouldn’t be too bad at the pier.

“There was a surf advisory issued last week, and with the storm coming in this weekend, we’ll just have to wait and see,” Buchanan said.

The high waves and rough waters will continue through the weekend, with no real break forecasted until Monday.