- Forecast
- Maps
- Live
- Weather State
- Spot Information
El Capitan Surf Forecast
/ CAL – Santa Barbara (36 breaks) / California (404 breaks) /
Surf Forecasts:
El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA
48hr Weather and Surf, issued 10 pm Tuesday 12 May 2026 PDTForecast 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
15.2° C
(Which is 1.2°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 2AM is: 0.9m 11s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.6m 14s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction (forecast issued at 10:00pm May 12). The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 2.
| Time (PDT) & Date | Wave Height | Wave Period |
|---|---|---|
| Morning (13 May) | 2.5ft (0.7m) | 14s |
| Afternoon (13 May) | 3ft (0.9m) | 12s |
| Evening (13 May) | 3ft (0.9m) | 12s |
Table - waves today at El Capitan. (Swell directed towards the surf break)
Updates in hr min s Forecast update imminent
Short Range ForecastMostly dry. Warm (max 22°C on Fri afternoon, min 12°C on Wed night). Wind will be generally light. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tue 12 | Wednesday 13 | Thursday 14 | Friday 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||
8 PM | 11 PM | 2 AM | 5 AM | 8 AM | 11 AM | 2 PM | 5 PM | 8 PM | 11 PM | 2 AM | 5 AM | 8 AM | 11 AM | 2 PM | 5 PM | 8 PM | 11 PM | 2 AM | 5 AM | 8 AM | 11 AM | 2 PM | 5 PM | |
Swell Height Map |   |    |    |    | ||||||||||||||||||||
WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 8 | WNW 12 | SSW 16 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | |
186 | 183 | 173 | 168 | 163 | 161 | 210 | 412 | 206 | 189 | 330 | 300 | 298 | 530 | 429 | 592 | 444 | 436 | 729 | 452 | 442 | 399 | 655 | 563 | |
Wind (km/h) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
glassy | glassy | glassy | glassy | glassy | cross-on | cross-on | cross | cross-off | glassy | glassy | glassy | glassy | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-off | off | glassy | glassy | glassy | on | cross-on | cross-on | |
High Tide | 7:45AM1.56m | 7:48PM2.10m | 8:45AM1.57m | 8:20PM2.26m | 9:43AM1.57m | |||||||||||||||||||
Low Tide | 1:55AM0.66m | 1:20PM0.74m | 2:39AM0.40m | 1:57PM0.82m | 3:24AM0.18m | 2:36PM0.91m | ||||||||||||||||||
 | |  | |  |  | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
 | — | — | — | 5:58 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5:58 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5:56 | — | — | — | — |
 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:52 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:53 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:54 |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Temp °C | 13 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 17 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 22 | 22 |
13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 21 | |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 8 | WNW 8 | WNW 8 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 11 | SSW 15 | SSW 15 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | WNW 10 | SSW 14 |
 kJ | 180 | 176 | 173 | 135 | 135 | 135 | 210 | 278 | 206 | 189 | 183 | 172 | 146 | 530 | 429 | 387 | 263 | 322 | 460 | 452 | 442 | 399 | 452 | 220 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 13 | SSW 13 | SSW 13 | SSW 13 | WNW 11 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | SSW 16 | SSW 16 | SSW 16 | SW 12 | S 10 | SSW 15 | SSW 15 | SSW 15 | SSW 15 | SSW 14 | WNW 18 |
| kJ | 186 | 183 | 133 | 168 | 163 | 161 | 120 | 120 | 120 | 101 | 186 | 265 | 265 | 295 | 291 | 284 | 38 | 8 | 256 | 252 | 249 | 242 | 236 | 31 |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | S 12 | S 12 | S 12 | S 13 | S 11 | WNW 14 | SSW 18 | SSW 18 | SSW 18 | SSW 17 | SSW 17 | SSW 16 | SSW 16 | S 10 | SSE 10 | SSE 10 | S 10 | S 10 | S 10 | S 10 | S 10 | S 10 | S 10 | S 10 |
| kJ | 26 | 26 | 27 | 30 | 9 | 37 | 62 | 62 | 104 | 119 | 160 | 211 | 298 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | WNW 12 | WNW 6 | WNW 7 | WNW 8 | WNW 8 | — | — | WNW 8 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | WNW 10 | — | — | — | WNW 10 | WNW 10 |
| kJ | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 412 | 88 | 144 | 330 | 300 | — | — | 179 | 592 | 444 | 436 | 729 | — | — | — | 655 | 563 |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 166 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 166 | 17 |
Best forecast wave conditions in Santa Barbara | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best forecast wave conditions in United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Header Global | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)- Wind Speed (km/h)
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.
Nearest