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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 am Wednesday 28 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 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 2PM is: 0.7m 11s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.6m 5s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00am January 28). The wind direction is predicted to be glassy.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (28 Jan)1.5ft (0.4m)12s
Afternoon (28 Jan)2.5ft (0.8m)11s
Evening (28 Jan)4.5ft (1.3m)11s

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
28
Thursday
29
Friday
30
Sat
31
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)
0
0
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
4
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
2
2
3
3
2
2
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.3
WNW
0.4
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.9
WNW
1
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.6
WNW
2
WNW
2
WNW
2
WNW
2
WNW
2
WNW
1.9
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.6
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.4
WNW
Period(s) (?)131211111111121413131316161515141414141313131312
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)346113020526856349712411106104278619431956185717371690151712851161960841732594549
Wind
(km/h)
10
N
5
NNW
5
W
5
W
10
N
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
N
10
NNE
5
NE
5
SW
5
SW
5
N
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
NNE
5
NW
5
SW
5
WSW
5
N
5
NNE
5
NE
5
NNE
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
offoffglassglassoffoffoffoffoffglasscross-
on		glassoffcross-
off		offcross-
off		cross-
off		glasscross-
on		crossoffglasscross-
off		cross-
off
High Tide
/ height (m)
5:00AM
2.15
7:48PM
1.37
6:01AM
2.26
8:31PM
1.46
6:57AM
2.36
9:08PM
1.54
Low Tide
/ height (m)
12:53PM
0.24
11:24PM
1.19
1:43PM
0.07
12:33AM
1.14
2:28PM
-0.04
1:31AM
1.07
Wednesday
28
Thursday
29
Friday
30
Sat
31
Sunrise-7:00-------7:00------6:58-------
Sunset---5:24-------5:25-------5:27----
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C121722211513141313202422181616161622252219181818
Feels °C (?)81420191291089172120151212131220222017161516
  • 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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