- 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 4 am Tuesday 05 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
14.6° C
(Which is slightly warmer than usual)How big are the waves at El Capitan today?
The current surf forecast for El Capitan at 11AM is: 0.8m 13s primary swell from a West-northwest direction and 0.6m 14s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction (forecast issued at 04:00am May 05). An open ocean swell of 0.8m 4s is not directed at the surf break. The wind direction is predicted to be cross-offshore.
| Time (PDT) & Date | Wave Height | Wave Period |
|---|---|---|
| Morning (05 May) | 2.5ft (0.8m) | 13s |
| Afternoon (05 May) | 4.5ft (1.3m) | 13s |
| Evening (05 May) | 4.5ft (1.4m) | 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 25°C on Thu afternoon, min 12°C on Tue night). Winds decreasing (fresh winds from the WNW on Tue afternoon, calm by Thu morning). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday 5 | Wednesday 6 | Thursday 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | |
Swell Height Map |    |    |    | |||||||||||||||||||||
WNW 14 | WNW 13 | WNW 13 | WNW 13 | WNW 13 | WNW 13 | WNW 12 | SSW 15 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SSW 15 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SW 14 | WNW 13 | WNW 13 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | |
294 | 222 | 219 | 215 | 560 | 212 | 582 | 150 | 193 | 196 | 196 | 193 | 142 | 133 | 133 | 134 | 134 | 99 | 154 | 147 | 131 | 129 | 774 | 722 | |
Wind (km/h) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross | cross-off | cross-off | off | off | glassy | glassy | on | cross-on | cross | cross-off | cross-off | off | glassy | glassy | cross-on | cross-on | cross | cross-off | cross-off | |
High Tide | 11:22PM1.98m | 2:43PM1.35m | 11:58PM1.91m | 4:55PM1.36m | 00:38AM1.82m | |||||||||||||||||||
Low Tide | 7:14AM0.40m | 5:17PM1.30m | 8:08AM0.47m | 5:18PM1.36m | 9:06AM0.51m | |||||||||||||||||||
 |  |  | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
 | — | 6:05 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6:05 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6:03 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
 | — | — | — | — | — | 7:46 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:47 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:49 | — | — |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Temp °C | 12 | 10 | 13 | 19 | 21 | 19 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 17 | 14 |
9 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 15 | 12 | |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | WNW 14 | WNW 13 | WNW 13 | WNW 13 | SSW 15 | WNW 13 | SSW 15 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SSW 15 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SW 14 | WNW 13 | WNW 13 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | SW 14 | SW 13 |
 kJ | 294 | 222 | 219 | 215 | 142 | 212 | 144 | 129 | 127 | 196 | 196 | 193 | 142 | 133 | 133 | 134 | 134 | 99 | 154 | 147 | 131 | 129 | 89 | 45 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SSW 16 | SW 17 | SSW 14 | SSW 14 | SSE 12 | SSW 15 | SSE 12 | SSW 15 | SW 16 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 | WNW 11 | WNW 11 | NW 14 | WNW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SSW 18 | SW 18 |
| kJ | 173 | 143 | 73 | 138 | 28 | 142 | 14 | 150 | 193 | 125 | 94 | 93 | 79 | 53 | 50 | 48 | 52 | 73 | 99 | 99 | 97 | 95 | 32 | 53 |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SSW 13 | SSW 13 | SW 17 | SW 17 | SW 21 | SSE 12 | SW 21 | SSE 11 | SSE 11 | SSE 11 | WNW 5 | W 5 | W 5 | SSE 11 | SW 19 | WNW 15 | NW 11 | WNW 11 | SW 20 | SW 19 | SSE 11 | SW 18 | SE 10 | SSE 10 |
| kJ | 34 | 68 | 148 | 77 | 18 | 14 | 18 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 21 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 59 | 42 | 31 | 49 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 4 | 10 |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | NW 3 | WNW 3 | NW 4 | WNW 4 | WNW 13 | WNW 5 | WNW 12 | NW 5 | NW 5 | NW 5 | NW 5 | — | WNW 5 | WNW 5 | WNW 5 | WNW 5 | WNW 5 | WNW 6 | WNW 6 | WNW 6 | WNW 6 | WNW 6 | WNW 12 | WNW 12 |
| kJ | 5 | 8 | 13 | 16 | 560 | 52 | 582 | 64 | 38 | 25 | 41 | — | 25 | 28 | 57 | 64 | 72 | 65 | 52 | 55 | 80 | 104 | 774 | 722 |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 329 | 329 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 165 | 165 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 165 | 17 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
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