El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 pm Thursday 19 Feb 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
15.5° C
(Which is 1.8°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 4AM is: 2.2m 11s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.2m 15s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction, 2.0m 11s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00pm February 19). The wind direction is predicted to be offshore and the swell rating is 4.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (20 Feb)6ft (1.8m)12s
Afternoon (20 Feb)5ft (1.5m)11s
Evening (20 Feb)4ft (1.2m)11s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
Thu
19
Friday
20
Saturday
21
Sunday
22
7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM
Rating
(10 max)
3
4
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Swell
Height Map
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
3
WNW
2.5
WNW
2.4
WNW
2.2
WNW
1.9
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.6
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.5
WNW
0.5
W
0.5
W
0.4
WNW
0.3
WNW
0.3
WNW
0.5
W
0.5
W
Period(s) (?)1011111111121111111110101010999999121277
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)183415181381122091785763754439430218417614010069654641402629282223
Wind
(km/h)
25
NW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
NNW
15
N
10
NNW
10
WNW
10
WNW
10
NNW
10
N
5
NNE
10
ENE
10
E
15
ESE
15
SSE
10
SSW
5
WSW
5
N
5
NE
5
N
10
N
5
NW
5
SW
10
W
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
offoffcross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
offcross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
off
cross-
on
cross-
on
cross-
on
glassglasscross-
off
glassoffglasscross-
on
cross
High Tide
/ height (m)
11:09PM
1.86
11:06AM
1.75
11:41PM
1.92
12:01PM
1.54
12:18AM
1.96
1:15PM
1.34
Low Tide
/ height (m)
5:12AM
0.72
5:14PM
0.61
6:09AM
0.68
5:41PM
0.78
7:19AM
0.65
Thu
19
Friday
20
Saturday
21
Sunday
22
Sunrise----6:39-------6:39-------6:37---
Sunset-------5:46-------5:47-------5:49
part cloud
clear
clear
cloud
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
cloud
cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C108777121514988881315141110999162019
Feels °C (?)43333811116555591112109766141716
  • 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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