El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 pm Tuesday 24 Feb 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
15.0° C
(Which is 1.4°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 1AM is: 0.8m 10s primary swell from a West direction and 0.2m 12s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00pm February 24). An open ocean swell of 0.7m 4s is not directed at the surf break. The wind direction is predicted to be cross-offshore.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (25 Feb)3ft (0.9m)10s
Afternoon (25 Feb)4.5ft (1.4m)10s
Evening (25 Feb)3ft (0.9m)10s

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


Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
Tue
24
Wednesday
25
Thursday
26
Friday
27
7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM
Rating
(10 max)
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
Swell
Height Map
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.7
WNW
1.2
WNW
0.8
W
0.8
W
0.8
W
0.9
W
0.9
W
1.4
W
0.9
W
0.9
W
0.8
WSW
0.8
WSW
0.8
WSW
0.4
NW
0.4
NW
0.4
NW
0.4
NW
0.4
NW
0.4
NW
0.4
SSW
1
WNW
0.3
S
0.3
SSW
0.4
SSW
Period(s) (?)12111010101010101010999161515151514186181716
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)14231313512512115316138415114511011011092685454545812377545789
Wind
(km/h)
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
10
NW
15
NW
15
NW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
N
10
N
10
NW
20
WNW
20
NW
15
NNW
15
N
15
N
10
N
10
NNE
5
NNW
5
W
5
W
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
offoffoffcross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
offoffoffoffoffglasscrossglass
High Tide
/ height (m)
5:58PM
1.26
3:30AM
1.99
7:05PM
1.37
4:51AM
2.06
7:40PM
1.48
5:59AM
2.14
Low Tide
/ height (m)
8:03PM
1.24
11:42AM
0.36
10:15PM
1.28
12:41PM
0.23
11:45PM
1.20
1:28PM
0.13
Tue
24
Wednesday
25
Thursday
26
Friday
27
Sunrise----6:33-------6:33-------6:31---
Sunset-------5:52-------5:52-------5:53
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
clear
clear
part cloud
clear
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C171616161521242117171717172428262019191818262928
Feels °C (?)151414131219221916161515152426241918181717262929
  • 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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