El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 4 am Thursday 09 Apr 2026 PDT
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
15.7° C
(Which is 2.1°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 11AM is: 0.5m 16s primary swell from a Southwest direction and 0.6m 9s secondary swell from a West direction (forecast issued at 04:00am April 09). An open ocean swell of 0.7m 4s is not directed at the surf break. The wind direction is predicted to be cross-shore.

Time (PDT) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (09 Apr)1.5ft (0.4m)19s
Afternoon (09 Apr)2ft (0.6m)16s
Evening (09 Apr)2.5ft (0.8m)18s

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


Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
Thursday
09
Friday
10
Saturday
11
2AM5AM8AM11AM2PM5PM8PM11PM2AM5AM8AM11AM2PM5PM8PM11PM2AM5AM8AM11AM2PM5PM8PM11PM
Rating
(10 max)
1
1
2
0
0
0
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
Swell
Height Map
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.5
SW
0.5
SW
0.4
SSW
0.5
SW
0.9
WNW
0.7
SW
0.7
SW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.5
SSW
0.5
SSW
0.7
SW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
Period(s) (?)16161916916171818181818181516161616161616161616
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)127127146129135268309399399395395180174229447452458412402322322318314310
Wind
(km/h)
15
NNW
15
NW
10
NNW
10
WNW
15
W
20
W
10
NW
10
NW
5
NNW
5
N
5
SE
10
SSE
10
S
10
SW
5
WSW
0
NNE
0
NE
5
ENE
5
ESE
15
SSE
15
S
10
SSW
10
S
10
SW
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
crosscrosscrosscross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
glassglasscross-
on
oncross-
on
glassglassglassglasscross-
on
ononononcross-
on
High Tide
/ height (m)
2:15AM
1.69
8:15PM
1.45
3:50AM
1.66
7:54PM
1.50
5:14AM
1.67
Low Tide
/ height (m)
11:15AM
0.60
10:02PM
1.44
12:10PM
0.55
11:57PM
1.36
12:50PM
0.50
Thursday
09
Friday
10
Saturday
11
Sunrise--6:35-------6:35-------6:33-----
Sunset-----7:27-------7:27-------7:28--
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
cloud
part cloud
cloud
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
clear
rain showers
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
part cloud
rain showers
light rain
light rain
Rain (mm)
------------1--------112
Temp. °C161618232523181514141617181714131212141716151413
Feels °C (?)141417222219161413141516171614131211131413131211
  • 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

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.


Nearest locationNearest
Nearest locationNearest
Nearest locationNearest