El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 pm Friday 20 Feb 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
15.5° C
(Which is 1.8°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 12AM is: 1.0m 10s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.4m 14s secondary swell from a Southwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00pm February 20). An open ocean swell of 0.5m 4s is not directed at the surf break. The wind direction is predicted to be cross-offshore.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (21 Feb)2.5ft (0.7m)10s
Afternoon (21 Feb)2ft (0.6m)9s
Evening (21 Feb)1.5ft (0.5m)9s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent
Fri
20
Saturday
21
Sunday
22
Monday
23
7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM7PM10PM1AM4AM7AM10AM1PM4PM
Rating
(10 max)
2
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
Swell
Height Map
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.9
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.6
WNW
0.5
WNW
0.5
WNW
0.4
WNW
0.4
WNW
0.3
WNW
0.3
WNW
0.5
W
0.4
NW
0.4
WNW
1
W
1
W
1
W
1.1
W
1.1
W
1.1
W
1.1
W
Period(s) (?)11111010101099999912127121111101010101010
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)3733021841761401006965464626262928213548238206194225231216270
Wind
(km/h)
10
NNW
10
N
5
NNE
5
NE
5
E
10
SE
10
SSE
5
SSW
5
NNW
10
NNW
5
NNE
10
NNW
10
N
0
NW
10
WSW
10
W
10
NNW
10
N
10
NNE
10
N
10
N
0
NNE
10
WSW
5
W
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
cross-
off
offcross-
off
cross-
off
crosscross-
on
cross-
on
onglassoffglassoffoffglasscross-
on
crossoffoffoffoffoffglasscross-
on
cross
High Tide
/ height (m)
11:41PM
1.92
12:01PM
1.54
12:18AM
1.96
1:15PM
1.34
1:06AM
1.97
3:17PM
1.21
Low Tide
/ height (m)
6:09AM
0.68
5:41PM
0.78
7:19AM
0.65
6:11PM
0.95
8:48AM
0.61
Fri
20
Saturday
21
Sunday
22
Monday
23
Sunrise----6:39-------6:37-------6:35---
Sunset-------5:47-------5:49-------5:50
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
clear
clear
Rain (mm)
------------------------
Temp. °C988881315141199991719191413141414202221
Feels °C (?)6555591111966651516161210111111191919
  • 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

Latest Updates

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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