The Harbor Column:

Another storm is expected to arrive today and linger through the weekend with wet weather, gusty winds and large swells in the Pacific.

Whenever a weather system is predicted to hit over a weekend, I get many people asking me what the weather will be like Saturday and Sunday. Maybe they are going boating or to a picnic, but I find that most people are just curious about the weather.

I have found that the trick to giving a weather report is do not go into technical details or be indecisive in your predictions. Give a “best guess” answer and do not wimp out by saying there is a 50-50 chance of rain where you are correct if it rains or not. No one can predict the weather correctly 100% of the time, because many factors influence the weather systems.

Because our weather comes primarily from the west over the ocean, the challenge is to predict where the system will come ashore guided by elements such as the wind (isotach on a weather map), high- and low-pressure systems (isobars) and air temperatures (isotherms). But I digress. Back to this weekend’s weather prediction.

I am expecting rain later today and continuing through Saturday with winds gusting to 20 to 25 mph. The sky should start clearing Sunday with a very slight chance of rain.

The ocean swells are another story, as the seas are building, expected to reach 5 feet today and by Sunday reaching up to 7 feet with 2 to 3-foot wind waves on top.

Looking to the north, the seas at Point Conception will reach only up to 12 feet. So with the small-craft-advisory conditions, ocean cruising is not for the faint-hearted this weekend out of Newport Harbor. You can go to www.wrh.noaa.gov/lox for the National Weather Service’s forecast.

Question of the week is: Should the Department of Fish and Game pursue the charges against Jon Apothaker, who caught the protected black sea bass last month off the Balboa Pier? The question, in the eyes of the law, was did he try to release the fish soon enough after realizing it was a protected species?

MIKE WHITEHEAD is the Pilot’s boating columnist. Send marine-related thoughts and story suggestions to mike@boathousetv.com or go to www.boathousetv.com .