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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 3 pm Friday 09 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 2.1°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 10PM is: 1.3m 15s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.3m 12s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction (forecast issued at 03:00pm January 09). The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 3.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (09 Jan)--
Afternoon (09 Jan)5ft (1.5m)15s
Evening (09 Jan)4.5ft (1.4m)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
Friday
09
Saturday
10
Sunday
11
Monday
12
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)
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
2
2
3
3
4
4
4
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
1.7
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.4
NW
1.3
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.1
NW
1
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.4
NW
0.5
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.9
WNW
2
WNW
Period(s) (?)161515151414141414131313131314141321202018181717
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)13221069918720701553476425342229222151114113134168156135225596959128820962173
Wind
(km/h)
5
W
10
WNW
5
NE
5
NNE
5
NE
5
NNE
5
NE
0
E
10
W
5
WSW
5
NNE
10
NE
10
N
10
N
5
NNE
5
NE
5
WSW
5
WSW
5
NNE
5
NNE
5
NNE
10
N
5
NNE
0
N
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
crosscross-
off		glassglasscross-
off		offcross-
off		glasscrosscross-
on		offcross-
off		offoffoffglasscross-
on		glassglassoffcross-
off		offcross-
off		glass
High Tide
/ height (m)
2:00PM
1.39
3:18AM
1.80
3:44PM
1.23
4:03AM
1.84
5:50PM
1.20
4:47AM
1.88
Low Tide
/ height (m)
8:08PM
0.78
10:27AM
0.91
8:47PM
0.95
11:42AM
0.76
9:36PM
1.09
Friday
09
Saturday
10
Sunday
11
Monday
12
Sunrise-------7:07-------7:07-------7:05
Sunset-5:07-------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
part cloud
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C161612111110101518161312131212172018161514141418
Feels °C (?)1313109876131514109988151716141211111016
  • 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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