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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 3 pm Thursday 22 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 2.0°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 7PM is: 0.8m 12s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.5m 16s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 03:00pm January 22). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-offshore and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (22 Jan)--
Afternoon (22 Jan)3ft (0.9m)12s
Evening (22 Jan)1.5ft (0.5m)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
Thursday
22
Friday
23
Saturday
24
Sunday
25
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)
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
3
3
2
2
1
2
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.5
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.5
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.2
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.3
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
1
WNW
1
WNW
Period(s) (?)121212161615141414141716131612151515151414141413
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)250246186201144167186239183175160211187435393392392318669660366293401384
Wind
(km/h)
5
SSW
10
S
5
ENE
5
ENE
5
NNW
5
NNW
10
N
0
NW
10
WSW
15
WNW
10
NNW
5
NNW
5
N
5
N
5
SE
5
SSE
10
SW
10
WSW
5
N
5
N
5
ENE
5
E
5
E
5
SE
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
ononcross-
off		glasscross-
off		glassoffglasscross-
on		cross-
off		cross-
off		cross-
off		glassglasscross-
on		glasscross-
on		cross-
on		glassglassglassglasscrossglass
High Tide
/ height (m)
11:06AM
1.87
12:40AM
1.70
11:53AM
1.66
1:16AM
1.78
12:57PM
1.44
2:00AM
1.86
Low Tide
/ height (m)
5:59PM
0.44
6:18AM
1.01
6:28PM
0.59
7:34AM
0.95
6:59PM
0.76
9:06AM
0.84
Thursday
22
Friday
23
Saturday
24
Sunday
25
Sunrise-------7:03-------7:03-------7:01
Sunset-5:19-------5:20-------5:21------
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
cloud
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C181614151413131619181312111212141715131212131315
Feels °C (?)171514151312121618151111111211131514121111121214
  • Map Icons:
  • Break
  • Live Wave Height (m)
  • Live Wind Speed (km/h)
  • Surf Rating (10 Max)
  • Ocean Swells (m)
  • Wind Speed (km/h)
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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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