El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 am Saturday 03 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 1.8°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 1PM is: 1.4m 10s primary swell from a West-southwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00am January 03). An open ocean swell of 1.2m 5s is not directed at the surf break. The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (03 Jan)4ft (1.2m)10s
Afternoon (03 Jan)5ft (1.5m)10s
Evening (03 Jan)5ft (1.6m)10s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
Saturday
03
Sunday
04
Monday
05
Tue
06
7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM
Rating
(10 max)
0
0
2
2
2
3
2
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
3
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Swell
Height Map
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
1.3
SE
1.2
WSW
1.4
WSW
1.5
WSW
1.5
WSW
1.6
WSW
1.1
WNW
1.7
WNW
2.4
W
2.4
W
2.4
W
2.4
WNW
2.3
WNW
2.1
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.6
W
1.4
WNW
1.1
WSW
1.2
W
0.9
WSW
1
W
0.8
W
1
WSW
1.2
W
Period(s) (?)5101099101514131214141313131212810810889
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)752633513833834525811206200117922441203917921452109276156016330010918480144225
Wind
(km/h)
25
ESE
25
ESE
5
ENE
5
SE
5
SSE
5
ESE
5
SE
10
SSE
10
S
10
SSE
10
SSE
5
SE
5
WNW
5
NW
5
N
5
ENE
10
E
15
SE
15
SE
15
SE
20
SE
15
SE
20
ESE
20
ESE
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
cross-
on
cross-
on
glassglassglassglasscross-
on
cross-
on
ononcross-
on
crossglassglassglassglasscrosscross-
on
cross-
on
cross-
on
cross-
on
cross-
on
cross-
on
cross-
on
High Tide
/ height (m)
8:40AM
2.52
10:50PM
1.57
9:28AM
2.46
11:34PM
1.60
10:16AM
2.32
12:18AM
1.63
Low Tide
/ height (m)
4:08PM
-0.17
3:12AM
1.07
4:53PM
-0.10
4:07AM
1.07
5:35PM
0.03
Saturday
03
Sunday
04
Monday
05
Tue
06
Sunrise-7:05-------7:07-------7:07------
Sunset---5:01-------5:01-------5:02----
mod rain
heavy rain
rain showers
clear
clear
rain showers
light rain
light rain
light rain
cloud
light rain
light rain
rain showers
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
light rain
light rain
light rain
light rain
light rain
light rain
light rain
Rain (mm)
62616--1112-241----1111113
Temp. °C151415171514141414151413131212111113141313131312
Feels °C (?)111016181514131313131312121112109111110101098
  • 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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