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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 pm Monday 19 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 3AM is: 0.8m 14s primary swell from a West direction and 0.4m 20s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00pm January 19). The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (20 Jan)3.5ft (1.0m)13s
Afternoon (20 Jan)2.5ft (0.7m)18s
Evening (20 Jan)3ft (0.9m)16s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent 
12 DaysHourly
Print Table
Mon
19
Tuesday
20
Wednesday
21
Thursday
22
7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM
Rating
(10 max)
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.7
WNW
0.5
W
0.6
W
0.9
W
1
W
1
W
1.1
W
1
W
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.1
WNW
1.1
WNW
1.1
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.1
WNW
1
WNW
1.1
WNW
1
WNW
0.9
WNW
Period(s) (?)141615141313121216161615151414141313131313121212
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)178118155333345324362315376371575505485557549711523515515431356392303246
Wind
(km/h)
5
N
5
NE
5
NNE
5
NE
5
ENE
5
SE
5
SSE
5
SW
5
ENE
5
ENE
5
NE
5
ENE
5
ENE
5
SE
5
SSW
10
WSW
0
W
5
NW
0
S
5
N
5
NNE
0
SSE
5
SSW
5
SW
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
glassglassglassglasscross-
off		cross-
on		glassglasscross-
off		glassglasscross-
off		glassglassglasscrossglassglassglassglassglassglassglasscross-
on
High Tide
/ height (m)
11:11PM
1.53
9:50AM
2.15
11:40PM
1.57
10:26AM
2.03
12:09AM
1.63
11:06AM
1.87
Low Tide
/ height (m)
3:42AM
1.08
5:04PM
0.21
4:26AM
1.06
5:31PM
0.31
5:17AM
1.04
Mon
19
Tuesday
20
Wednesday
21
Thursday
22
Sunrise-----7:03-------7:03-------7:03--
Sunset-------5:16-------5:17-------5:19
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
cloud
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C181818171720222018171616161818161616151413171816
Feels °C (?)171716151418201815151413141616141515151312161715
  • 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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