El Capitan Surf Break

Lat Long: 34.46° N 120.02° W

El Capitan 48 hour detailed Surf Forecast

Issued: 10 pm 29 Sep 2026 (local time)

Forecast update in  hr  min

Today's El Capitan sea temperature is
21.9°C
4.5° 

El Capitan surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.


How big are the waves at El Capitan today (30 Sep):

  • Morning surf: Morning surf (30 Sep, local time) - 2.5ft (0.8m), 13s period with WNW swell.
  • Afternoon surf: Afternoon surf (30 Sep, local time) - 2ft (0.6m), 15s period with SW swell.
  • Evening surf: Evening surf (30 Sep, local time) - 3.5ft (1.0m), 12s period with WNW swell.

The current surf forecast for El Capitan at 3AM is: 0.7m 14s primary swell from a Northwest direction and 0.6m 16s secondary swell from a Southwest direction, 1.1m 8s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 10:00pm September 29). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-offshore and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PDT) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (30 Sep)2.5ft (0.8m)13s
Afternoon (30 Sep)2ft (0.6m)15s
Evening (30 Sep)3.5ft (1.0m)12s

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


Short Range Forecast

Mostly dry. Warm (max 31°C on Fri afternoon, min 20°C on Wed night). Wind will be generally light.

Tue
29
Wednesday
30
Thursday
1
8 PM
11 PM
2 AM
5 AM
8 AM
11 AM
2 PM
5 PM
8 PM
11 PM
2 AM
5 AM
8 AM
11 AM
2 PM
5 PM
8 PM
11 PM
Rating
(10 max)
4
2
2
3
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
Swell
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Wave
Height (m)
Direction
Period (s)
1.7
WNW
14
0.7
NW
14
0.7
NW
14
1.7
WNW
13
0.8
WNW
13
1
WNW
10
0.9
WNW
10
0.9
WNW
10
1
WNW
13
0.9
WNW
12
0.9
WNW
12
1
WNW
12
0.9
WNW
10
0.8
WNW
9
0.6
SW
14
0.8
WNW
12
0.8
WNW
12
0.8
WNW
11
Wave Graph
Metric surfscale
Energy kJ
1244
208
191
1030
219
198
183
136
307
230
222
265
145
95
118
174
171
151
Wind (km/h)
15
NNW
10
N
5
N
10
E
5
E
5
SSE
10
S
5
WSW
5
NNW
0
ENE
5
E
5
NE
5
ESE
5
S
10
SW
10
SW
5
NW
5
N
Wind State
off
off
off
cross
cross
on
on
cross-on
glassy
glassy
glassy
glassy
glassy
on
cross-on
cross-on
glassy
glassy
High Tide
00:57AM1.43m
12:04PM2.12m
2:23AM1.32m
12:55PM2.06m
Low Tide
5:32AM1.02m
7:39PM0.37m
6:06AM1.15m
8:57PM0.39m
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
<span class="translation_missing" title="translation missing: en.weather_tables.sunrise">Sunrise</span>
—
—
—
6:52
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
6:54
—
—
—
—
—
—
<span class="translation_missing" title="translation missing: en.weather_tables.sunset">Sunset</span>
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
6:45
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
6:44
—
—
 mm
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Temp °C
22
22
23
22
22
27
28
26
22
21
21
20
21
27
28
27
23
23
Feels °C
19
19
21
20
21
27
28
27
23
22
22
21
21
27
28
27
23
23
  • 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
How to use the Wavefinder 

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