Surfers are likely to get a gift of big waves today.

The National Weather Service says surf on north facing shores will rise overnight to 14- to 24-feet by Tuesday morning.

A storm with gale force winds last week generated the waves, which should start arriving tonight.

The waves should gradually taper off into Thursday and then surf will rise again as waves from another storm arrive and will peak Thursday night into Friday, forecasters say.

Surf on north shores today is expected to be 3- to 5-feet today. East shores are seeing 2- to 4-foot waves. West shores are 1- to 3-feet rising to 10- to 15-feet by Christmas morning.

South shores should see 1- to 3-foot surf with occasional 4-foot sets Wednesday afternoon.

Forecasters warn that the surf will likely create strong rip currents, which could be dangerous for inexperienced ocean swimmers.