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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 am Wednesday 07 Jan 2026 PST
Forecast update in hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
El Capitan surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.
Today's El Capitan sea temperature is
15.9° C
 (Which is 1.9°C warmer than normal for this time of year)

How big are the waves at El Capitan today?

The current surf forecast for El Capitan at 2PM is: 1.2m 11s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.2m 13s secondary swell from a South direction, 0.1m 13s secondary swell from a Southwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00am January 07). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-offshore.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (07 Jan)4ft (1.2m)11s
Afternoon (07 Jan)0.5ft (0.2m)23s
Evening (07 Jan)6ft (1.8m)7s

Table - waves today at El Capitan. (Swell directed towards the surf break)

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent 
12 DaysHourly
Print Table
Wednesday
07
Thursday
08
Friday
09
Sat
10
7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM
Rating
(10 max)
2
2
1
0
0
2
2
2
2
2
2
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
1.2
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.2
WNW
0.2
WNW
0.4
NW
1.8
WNW
2
WNW
2.2
NW
2.2
NW
1
NW
1.1
NW
1.4
NW
1.4
NW
1.5
NW
1.9
NW
1.8
NW
1.8
NW
1.7
WNW
1.6
NW
1.5
WNW
1.4
NW
1.4
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
Period(s) (?)11111123218888181817171616161616161515151414
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)33731933452117382441546544621781109810611187191616311611135611931069918818701553
Wind
(km/h)
10
N
10
NNW
20
NW
25
NW
20
NNW
15
NNW
20
NNW
25
NNW
25
NNW
25
NNW
30
NW
20
NNW
15
N
10
NNE
10
N
10
NNE
10
ENE
5
NNE
5
W
10
WNW
10
N
10
NNE
5
NNE
10
NNE
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
offcross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		offoffoffoffoffcross-
off		glassglasscross-
off		offcross-
off		cross-
off		off
High Tide
/ height (m)
11:53AM
1.87
1:48AM
1.72
12:48PM
1.62
2:33AM
1.76
2:00PM
1.39
3:18AM
1.80
Low Tide
/ height (m)
6:09AM
1.09
6:54PM
0.39
7:24AM
1.08
7:31PM
0.59
8:53AM
1.03
8:08PM
0.78
Wednesday
07
Thursday
08
Friday
09
Sat
10
Sunrise-7:07-------7:07-------7:07------
Sunset---5:05-------5:06-------5:07----
clear
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C12161816131110991215149778814161512111111
Feels °C (?)10141411108643678533441113129787
  • Map Icons:
  • Break
  • Live Wave Height (m)
  • Live Wind Speed (km/h)
  • Surf Rating (10 Max)
  • Ocean Swells (m)
  • Wind Speed (km/h)
Map placeholder

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FREE! Surf-Forecast.com widget for your website

The surf report / weather widget below is available to embed on third party websites free of charge and provides a summary of our El Capitan surf forecast. Simply grab the html code snippet that we provide and paste it into your own site. You can choose your preferred language and metric/imperial units for the surf forecast feed to suit users of your site. Click here to get the code.

View detailed surf forecast for El Capitan at:
surf-forecast.com

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