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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 pm Friday 23 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
15.8° C
 (Which is 2.0°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 5AM is: 0.9m 16s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.9m 8s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00pm January 23). The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (24 Jan)3ft (0.9m)15s
Afternoon (24 Jan)3ft (0.9m)15s
Evening (24 Jan)4.5ft (1.3m)14s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent 
12 DaysHourly
Print Table
Fri
23
Saturday
24
Sunday
25
Monday
26
7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM
Rating
(10 max)
2
2
2
2
2
2
0
1
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
1.1
WNW
0.5
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.3
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.1
WNW
1
WNW
1
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
Period(s) (?)81613161515151515141414141313131312121212121211
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)162153204429331392392392669660366521401384312286215205198152147107104102
Wind
(km/h)
10
NNW
5
NNW
5
NNW
5
NNW
5
N
0
SSW
10
WSW
5
SW
5
NW
10
NNE
5
NNE
5
NNE
5
ENE
5
E
5
S
5
SSE
5
ENE
5
ENE
5
NE
5
NE
10
NE
5
SE
5
SSE
5
S
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
cross-
off		cross-
off		glassglassglassglasscross-
on		cross-
on		cross-
off		offglasscross-
off		cross-
off		glassonglassglassglasscross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
on		onglass
High Tide
/ height (m)
1:16AM
1.78
12:57PM
1.44
2:00AM
1.86
2:34PM
1.25
2:53AM
1.95
Low Tide
/ height (m)
6:28PM
0.59
7:34AM
0.95
6:59PM
0.76
9:06AM
0.84
7:37PM
0.92
10:40AM
0.66
Fri
23
Saturday
24
Sunday
25
Monday
26
Sunrise-----7:03-------7:01-------7:01--
Sunset-------5:21-------5:22-------5:22
clear
clear
cloud
cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C131112121114171613131313121718171413121212171817
Feels °C (?)12101111101415151211111191615151110988141414
  • Map Icons:
  • Break
  • Live Wave Height (m)
  • Live Wind Speed (km/h)
  • Surf Rating (10 Max)
  • Ocean Swells (m)
  • Wind Speed (km/h)
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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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