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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 3 am Friday 23 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 9AM is: 0.8m 14s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.5m 9s secondary swell from a West direction (forecast issued at 03:00am January 23). The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (23 Jan)2.5ft (0.8m)14s
Afternoon (23 Jan)2.5ft (0.7m)14s
Evening (23 Jan)1.5ft (0.5m)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
Friday
23
Saturday
24
Sunday
25
1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM
Rating
(10 max)
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.5
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.5
WNW
0.5
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.1
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.1
WNW
0.9
WNW
1
WNW
1
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.8
WNW
0.8
WNW
Period(s) (?)161514141414171613161215151515141414141313131312
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)144167186239183175160153204429317392318392669565529293401384312303215205
Wind
(km/h)
5
NNW
5
NW
5
NNE
5
WSW
10
SW
10
W
10
NNW
10
NNW
5
NNW
0
N
5
E
5
ESE
10
SW
5
SW
5
N
5
NNE
5
NNE
5
ENE
5
ENE
10
E
5
SSE
5
SE
5
E
5
NE
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
glassglassglasscrosscross-
on		crosscross-
off		cross-
off		glassglasscrossglasscross-
on		cross-
on		offoffglasscross-
off		cross-
off		crosscross-
on		glasscross-
off		glass
High Tide
/ height (m)
12:40AM
1.70
11:53AM
1.66
1:16AM
1.78
12:57PM
1.44
2:00AM
1.86
2:34PM
1.25
Low Tide
/ height (m)
6:18AM
1.01
6:28PM
0.59
7:34AM
0.95
6:59PM
0.76
9:06AM
0.84
7:37PM
0.92
Friday
23
Saturday
24
Sunday
25
Sunrise---7:03-------7:03-------7:01----
Sunset-----5:20-------5:21-------5:22--
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
clear
part cloud
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C151413171918131211131315171613131313131618171413
Feels °C (?)151412171817111110131215151512121111111415151110
  • 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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