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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 3 am Thursday 29 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 8AM is: 1.8m 13s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.8m 18s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 03:00am January 29). The wind direction is predicted to be offshore and the swell rating is 4.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (29 Jan)5.5ft (1.7m)13s
Afternoon (29 Jan)6.5ft (2.0m)16s
Evening (29 Jan)6.5ft (2.0m)15s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent 
12 DaysHourly
Print Table
Thursday
29
Friday
30
Saturday
31
1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM
Rating
(10 max)
3
4
4
4
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
3
2
3
3
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
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
1.7
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.6
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.3
WNW
0.9
WNW
Period(s) (?)121413131316161515141414141313131312121212121218
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)49712411106104292919431931185717371690151712851043960841732585549549540522494478540
Wind
(km/h)
10
N
10
NNE
10
NNE
5
NNE
5
SW
5
SW
5
NNE
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
N
0
N
5
SSW
5
WSW
5
N
5
NNE
5
NNE
5
NE
10
NE
5
SE
5
SSW
10
W
5
NNW
10
N
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
offoffoffglasscross-
on		glassglasscross-
off		cross-
off		offoffglassglassglassglassoffglasscross-
off		cross-
off		glassglasscrosscross-
off		off
High Tide
/ height (m)
6:01AM
2.26
8:31PM
1.46
6:57AM
2.36
9:08PM
1.54
7:48AM
2.42
9:43PM
1.60
Low Tide
/ height (m)
11:24PM
1.19
1:43PM
0.07
12:33AM
1.14
2:28PM
-0.04
1:31AM
1.07
3:10PM
-0.07
Thursday
29
Friday
30
Saturday
31
Sunrise---7:00------6:58-------6:58-----
Sunset-----5:25-------5:27-------5:28--
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C141413212422191717171723252420191918182325232018
Feels °C (?)10109182120161313131321222218171615152122201816
  • 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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