El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 3 am Sunday 25 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 6AM is: 1.0m 14s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.2m 12s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction (forecast issued at 03:00am January 25). The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (25 Jan)3.5ft (1.0m)14s
Afternoon (25 Jan)3ft (0.9m)13s
Evening (25 Jan)2.5ft (0.8m)12s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
Sunday
25
Monday
26
Tuesday
27
1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM
Rating
(10 max)
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
Swell
Height Map
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.9
WNW
1.1
WNW
1
WNW
1
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.4
WNW
0.4
NW
0.4
NW
0.4
WNW
0.4
WNW
0.4
WNW
0.4
WNW
0.4
NW
0.4
NW
Period(s) (?)141414131313131212121212121111161615151515141414
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)3665214013843122862152051981521471071041021021026961858484815147
Wind
(km/h)
10
N
5
NNE
5
ENE
5
SE
5
S
5
SW
5
NNE
5
NE
5
ENE
5
NNE
5
NE
5
ESE
5
S
5
SSW
5
NNE
10
N
5
N
5
N
5
N
5
WNW
5
SW
15
W
10
NNW
10
N
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
offglassglasscross-
on
glasscross-
on
glassglasscross-
off
glasscross-
off
cross-
on
onglassglassoffoffoffoffglasscross-
on
crosscross-
off
off
High Tide
/ height (m)
2:00AM
1.86
2:34PM
1.25
2:53AM
1.95
4:54PM
1.19
3:55AM
2.04
6:47PM
1.26
Low Tide
/ height (m)
9:06AM
0.84
7:37PM
0.92
10:40AM
0.66
8:32PM
1.07
11:54AM
0.44
9:57PM
1.17
Sunday
25
Monday
26
Tuesday
27
Sunrise---7:01-------7:01-------7:01----
Sunset-----5:22-------5:22-------5:23--
clear
clear
cloud
cloud
part cloud
cloud
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C131313171817141313131217191814131312121719181313
Feels °C (?)1111111617161312111191416151199881416141010
  • 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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