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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 3 pm Thursday 08 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
16.0° 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 8PM is: 1.5m 17s primary swell from a Northwest direction and 0.2m 15s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction, 1.7m 9s secondary swell from a Northwest direction (forecast issued at 03:00pm January 08). The wind direction is predicted to be offshore and the swell rating is 4.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (08 Jan)--
Afternoon (08 Jan)4.5ft (1.3m)17s
Evening (08 Jan)5ft (1.5m)17s

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
08
Friday
09
Saturday
10
Sunday
11
1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM
Rating
(10 max)
2
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
1.2
NW
1.3
NW
1.4
NW
1.5
NW
1.9
NW
1.9
WNW
1.8
NW
1.7
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.4
NW
1.4
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.1
NW
1
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.7
NW
0.7
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.7
WNW
Period(s) (?)181717161616161616151515141414141413131313131414
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)89597411451187191617871611135613221069918818701553476425342229178151114113134161
Wind
(km/h)
30
NW
25
NNW
15
N
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
NNE
5
NE
5
N
5
WNW
10
NW
10
N
5
NNE
5
NE
10
N
10
N
0
NNW
5
WSW
5
W
5
N
10
NNE
5
NNE
10
N
10
N
5
NE
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
cross-
off		cross-
off		offcross-
off		offoffcross-
off		glasscross-
off		cross-
off		offcross-
off		cross-
off		offoffglasscross-
on		glassoffcross-
off		offoffoffglass
High Tide
/ height (m)
12:48PM
1.62
2:33AM
1.76
2:00PM
1.39
3:18AM
1.80
3:44PM
1.23
4:03AM
1.84
Low Tide
/ height (m)
7:31PM
0.59
8:53AM
1.03
8:08PM
0.78
10:27AM
0.91
8:47PM
0.95
Thursday
08
Friday
09
Saturday
10
Sunday
11
Sunrise-------7:07-------7:07-------7:07
Sunset-5:06-------5:07-------5:07------
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. °C1514977781216161111111111161817141313131318
Feels °C (?)7853335101313888771315151210109916
  • 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

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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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