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Surf Forecasts:

El Capitan surfForecast / CAL – Santa Barbara / USA

information circle48hr Weather and Surf, issued 9 am Sunday 11 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
15.7° C
 (Which is 1.9°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 5PM is: 0.4m 20s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.6m 13s secondary swell from a West-northwest direction (forecast issued at 09:00am January 11). An open ocean swell of 0.2m 4s is not directed at the surf break. The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PST) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (11 Jan)2.5ft (0.7m)14s
Afternoon (11 Jan)1.5ft (0.4m)21s
Evening (11 Jan)3ft (0.9m)20s

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

Updates in  hr  min  s Forecast update imminent 
12 DaysHourly
Print Table
Sunday
11
Monday
12
Tuesday
13
Wed
14
7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM7 AM10 AM1 PM4 PM7 PM10 PM1 AM4 AM
Rating
(10 max)
1
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
Swell
Height Map
See all maps
Wave Height (m) & direction (?)
0.6
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.7
WNW
0.4
NW
0.5
WNW
0.9
WNW
1.2
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.9
WNW
2
WNW
2
WNW
1.9
WNW
1.8
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.7
WNW
1.6
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.5
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.4
WNW
1.3
WNW
1.2
WNW
Period(s) (?)141413212020181817171616161616151514141413131313
Wave
Graph
(?)Metric surfscale
Energy kJ (?)1341661561352255969591288209621732021177215861493132412251091943930724683663577461
Wind
(km/h)
5
N
5
NNE
5
SSW
5
WSW
5
NNE
5
NNE
5
NNE
10
NNE
5
NNE
0
N
5
W
5
WSW
5
N
10
N
5
NNE
10
N
10
NE
5
E
5
SSW
10
WNW
10
N
10
NNE
10
NNE
10
NNE
Wind State (?)
onshore
cross-onshore
cross-shore
cross-offshore
offshore
glassy
offglassglassglassglassoffoffoffcross-
off		glassglassglassoffoffoffoffcross-
off		glassglasscross-
off		offcross-
off		cross-
off		off
High Tide
/ height (m)
4:03AM
1.84
5:50PM
1.20
4:47AM
1.88
7:22PM
1.26
5:30AM
1.93
8:15PM
1.33
Low Tide
/ height (m)
11:42AM
0.76
9:36PM
1.09
12:37PM
0.61
10:37PM
1.18
1:19PM
0.47
11:37PM
1.22
Sunday
11
Monday
12
Tuesday
13
Wed
14
Sunrise-7:07-------7:05-------7:05------
Sunset---5:07-------5:08-------5:09----
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. °C131720191615141414182119161615151520222117161616
Feels °C (?)101518181413111111161817131312121118201915131312
  • 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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