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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 10 am Monday 16 Mar 2026 PDT
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
15.0° C
 (Which is 1.3°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 2PM is: 0.8m 18s primary swell from a South-southwest direction and 0.5m 8s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 10:00am March 16). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-onshore.

Time (PDT) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (16 Mar)2.5ft (0.8m)18s
Afternoon (16 Mar)2.5ft (0.8m)18s
Evening (16 Mar)2ft (0.6m)18s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent 
16 DaysHourly
Print Table
Monday
16
Tuesday
17
Wednesday
18
Thu
19
8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PM11 PM2 AM5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PM11 PM2 AM5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PM11 PM2 AM5 AM
Rating
(10 max)
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.6
S
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.9
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.8
SSW
0.7
SSW
0.6
SSW
0.6
SSW
0.6
SSW
0.5
S
Period(s) (?)181818171816161616161616151515151515151414141413
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)42241840840422238537637137136636232430031430930924624224221816015414787
Wind
(km/h)
5
NE
5
WSW
10
WSW
10
W
5
NNW
10
NNE
5
NNE
5
N
10
NNE
5
SSE
5
SSW
5
WSW
5
NNW
5
NNE
5
N
5
NNE
0
NNW
5
S
5
SSW
10
WSW
5
NNW
5
NNW
5
N
5
N
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
glasscrosscross-
on		crossoffoffoffoffcross-
off		ononcross-
on		cross-
off		glassglassglassglassglasscross-
on		cross-
on		glassglassglassglass
High Tide
/ height (m)
8:26AM
2.02
9:39PM
1.73
9:06AM
2.03
9:59PM
1.84
9:49AM
1.99
10:23PM
1.95
Low Tide
/ height (m)
3:16PM
0.31
3:07AM
0.83
3:42PM
0.35
3:47AM
0.68
4:08PM
0.43
4:29AM
0.54
Monday
16
Tuesday
17
Wednesday
18
Thu
19
Sunrise7:09-------7:07-------7:05-------
Sunset---7:07-------7:08-------7:08----
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C202628282423222223293029252424232328292824232222
Feels °C (?)192526272422212021272928242424232328282724232222
  • 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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