El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 3 pm Wednesday 04 Mar 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
15.4° C
(Which is 1.7°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 12AM is: 2.2m 8s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.4m 16s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction, 0.3m 14s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 03:00pm March 04). The wind direction is predicted to be offshore and the swell rating is 3.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (05 Mar)4.5ft (1.4m)9s
Afternoon (05 Mar)6ft (1.8m)11s
Evening (05 Mar)6.5ft (2.0m)10s

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


Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
Wednesday
04
Thursday
05
Friday
06
Saturday
07
1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM
Rating
(10 max)
1
2
3
3
3
3
2
2
3
2
3
4
3
3
3
3
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
Swell
Height Map
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
1.3
WNW
2
WNW
2.3
WNW
2.1
WNW
2.2
WNW
2
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.9
WNW
2.5
NW
1.8
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
Period(s) (?)7778899811111010101111111111111111111111
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)1813785685876506324302736737857851299703680759674591591522522451435394334
Wind
(km/h)
10
W
15
NW
15
NNW
15
NNW
20
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
20
NNW
15
NNW
15
N
15
N
15
N
15
N
5
NW
10
SW
10
W
10
NNW
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
NNE
0
W
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
cross-
on
cross-
off
offoffoffoffoffoffcross-
off
cross-
off
offoffoffoffoffglasscross-
on
crossoffoffcross-
off
cross-
off
offglass
High Tide
/ height (m)
10:29PM
1.91
10:37AM
1.80
10:55PM
1.92
11:21AM
1.61
11:22PM
1.90
Low Tide
/ height (m)
4:14PM
0.46
4:36AM
0.62
4:39PM
0.63
5:20AM
0.62
5:02PM
0.80
6:09AM
0.65
Wednesday
04
Thursday
05
Friday
06
Saturday
07
Sunrise------6:24-------6:22-------6:20-
Sunset-5:58-------5:59-------6:00------
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C212216141310101821201411111110192120161413131420
Feels °C (?)202014119661415141077761717161411991118
  • 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

Latest Updates

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.


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