El Capitan Surf Break

Lat Long: 34.46° N 120.02° W

El Capitan 48 hour detailed Surf Forecast

Issued: 4 am 19 Sep 2026 (local time)

Forecast update in  hr  min

Today's El Capitan sea temperature is
21.7°C
4.4° 

El Capitan surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.


How big are the waves at El Capitan today (19 Sep):

  • Morning surf: Morning surf (19 Sep, local time) - 2ft (0.6m), 18s period with SW swell.
  • Afternoon surf: Afternoon surf (19 Sep, local time) - 2ft (0.6m), 18s period with SW swell.
  • Evening surf: Evening surf (19 Sep, local time) - 2ft (0.6m), 18s period with SW swell.

The current surf forecast for El Capitan at 1PM is: 0.6m 18s primary swell from a Southwest direction and 0.4m 13s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction, 0.9m 7s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 04:00am September 19). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-onshore.

Time (PDT) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (19 Sep)2ft (0.6m)18s
Afternoon (19 Sep)2ft (0.6m)18s
Evening (19 Sep)2ft (0.6m)18s

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


Short Range Forecast

Mostly dry. Warm (max 27°C on Sat afternoon, min 15°C on Mon night). Wind will be generally light.

Saturday
19
Sunday
20
Monday
21
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
8 PM
11 PM
Rating
(10 max)
2
2
2
1
0
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
3
2
2
3
2
1
1
2
2
Swell
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Wave
Height (m)
Direction
Period (s)
0.5
SW
19
0.6
SW
18
0.6
SW
18
0.6
SW
18
0.6
SW
18
0.7
SW
18
0.6
SW
18
0.6
SW
18
0.6
SW
18
0.6
SW
18
0.7
SW
18
0.8
SW
18
0.8
SW
18
0.8
SW
18
0.8
SW
18
0.8
SW
17
0.8
SW
17
0.8
SW
17
0.8
SW
17
0.9
SW
17
0.9
SW
17
0.9
SW
17
0.9
SW
16
0.9
SW
16
Wave Graph
Metric surfscale
Energy kJ
179
203
255
252
252
307
252
252
255
255
307
375
379
370
366
362
358
346
338
465
465
459
454
395
Wind (km/h)
10
N
5
N
5
NNE
5
SW
10
SW
10
W
10
NNW
10
NNW
5
NNW
5
NNE
0
WSW
5
SSW
10
SSW
5
SW
5
NNW
10
NNE
0
NNW
5
NNW
5
N
10
SSW
10
SW
10
W
15
NNW
10
NNW
Wind State
off
off
glassy
cross-on
cross-on
cross
off
cross-off
glassy
glassy
glassy
on
cross-on
cross-on
off
off
glassy
glassy
glassy
on
cross-on
cross
cross-off
off
High Tide
8:18AM1.41m
4:47PM1.71m
8:19AM1.46m
5:57PM1.77m
8:31AM1.52m
6:49PM1.84m
Low Tide
11:58PM0.60m
10:40AM1.39m
00:52AM0.53m
12:13PM1.32m
1:31AM0.46m
1:03PM1.21m
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
part cloud
clear
cloud
part cloud
part cloud
clear
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
<span class="translation_missing" title="translation missing: en.weather_tables.sunrise">Sunrise</span>
6:45
6:46
6:47
<span class="translation_missing" title="translation missing: en.weather_tables.sunset">Sunset</span>
7:00
7:00
6:58
 mm
Temp °C
17
17
19
25
27
27
20
18
18
18
20
25
26
25
20
17
18
17
18
23
24
24
17
15
Feels °C
16
16
18
24
26
26
19
17
18
18
21
25
26
25
20
17
19
17
19
23
24
23
15
14
  • 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
How to use the Wavefinder 

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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