El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 4 am Wednesday 08 Apr 2026 PDT
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 2.2°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: 1.3m 7s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.6m 13s secondary swell from a South direction, 0.4m 18s secondary swell from a Southwest direction (forecast issued at 04:00am April 08). The wind direction is predicted to be offshore and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PDT) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (08 Apr)4.5ft (1.3m)7s
Afternoon (08 Apr)1.5ft (0.5m)13s
Evening (08 Apr)1.5ft (0.5m)16s

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


Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
Wednesday
08
Thursday
09
Friday
10
2AM5AM8AM11AM2PM5PM8PM11PM2AM5AM8AM11AM2PM5PM8PM11PM2AM5AM8AM11AM2PM5PM8PM11PM
Rating
(10 max)
1
2
2
2
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
Swell
Height Map
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.6
S
1.4
NW
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
0.5
S
0.5
S
0.5
SW
0.6
SW
0.5
SW
0.5
SW
0.4
SSW
0.5
SW
0.5
SW
0.7
SW
0.7
SW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.5
SSW
0.5
SSW
0.7
SW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
Period(s) (?)137771313161616161916161617181818181818151616
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)1261781501328991127208127127146129127268309399399395395180174229447452
Wind
(km/h)
10
NNW
10
N
10
NNW
10
NW
20
NW
30
NW
20
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
NW
15
NW
15
WNW
20
W
20
WNW
10
NW
10
NW
5
NNW
5
NE
5
SE
10
SSE
10
S
10
SSW
5
WSW
0
NE
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
offoffoffcross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
crosscross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
glasscross-
on
cross-
on
oncross-
on
glassglass
High Tide
/ height (m)
1:09AM
1.77
2:15AM
1.69
8:15PM
1.45
3:50AM
1.66
7:54PM
1.50
Low Tide
/ height (m)
9:58AM
0.62
11:15AM
0.60
10:02PM
1.44
12:10PM
0.55
Wednesday
08
Thursday
09
Friday
10
Sunrise--6:37-------6:35-------6:35-----
Sunset-----7:25-------7:27-------7:27--
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
clear
clear
part cloud
cloud
rain showers
rain showers
clear
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
-------------------11---
Temp. °C161619272926171515161723242117151414151718181413
Feels °C (?)131316242421141313141521201815141313141617171413
  • 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

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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