El Capitan Surf Break

Lat Long: 34.46° N 120.02° W

El Capitan 48 hour detailed Surf Forecast

Issued: 4 pm 22 Oct 2026 (local time)

Forecast update in  hr  min

Today's El Capitan sea temperature is
21.4°C
4.7° 

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 (22 Oct):

  • Afternoon surf: Afternoon surf (22 Oct, local time) - 2.5ft (0.8m), 18s period with SSW swell.
  • Evening surf: Evening surf (22 Oct, local time) - 2ft (0.6m), 18s period with SSW swell.

The current surf forecast for El Capitan at 11PM is: 0.6m 18s primary swell from a South-southwest direction and 1.1m 6s secondary swell from a West direction, 0.8m 14s secondary swell from a South-southwest direction (forecast issued at 04:00pm October 22). An open ocean swell of 1.2m 6s is not directed at the surf break. The wind direction is predicted to be cross-offshore and the swell rating is 2.

Time (PDT) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (22 Oct)--
Afternoon (22 Oct)2.5ft (0.8m)18s
Evening (22 Oct)2ft (0.6m)18s

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


Short Range Forecast

Light rain (total 2mm), mostly falling on Thu afternoon. Warm (max 24°C on Sat afternoon, min 15°C on Thu night). Wind will be generally light.

Thu
22
Friday
23
Saturday
24
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
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
3
2
2
2
2
2
0
1
2
2
Swell
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Height Map
Wave
Height (m)
Direction
Period (s)
0.8
SSW
18
0.7
SSW
18
0.6
SSW
18
0.8
SSW
14
0.9
SSW
14
0.7
SSW
16
0.8
SSW
16
0.8
SSW
16
0.8
SSW
16
1.5
WNW
8
1.7
WNW
9
1.4
WNW
10
0.9
SSW
16
0.8
SSW
15
0.8
SSW
15
0.8
SSW
15
0.8
SSW
15
0.7
SSW
15
0.8
SSW
14
0.9
WNW
11
Wave Graph
Metric surfscale
Energy kJ
360
329
249
246
261
240
298
295
295
291
449
349
344
250
255
242
242
188
239
186
Wind (km/h)
10
SSW
10
W
5
NW
5
NNW
10
NNW
10
NNW
10
NNW
15
WNW
20
NW
20
NW
15
NNW
10
N
10
NNE
10
NNE
5
NNE
5
W
10
WSW
10
W
10
NNW
10
NNW
Wind State
on
cross
glassy
cross-off
cross-off
off
cross-off
cross-off
cross-off
cross-off
off
off
off
cross-off
off
glassy
cross-on
cross
off
off
High Tide
7:50PM1.70m
8:19AM1.93m
8:38PM1.70m
8:41AM2.06m
9:26PM1.69m
Low Tide
2:03PM0.81m
1:56AM0.61m
2:39PM0.60m
2:24AM0.68m
3:18PM0.41m
light rain
rain showers
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
<span class="translation_missing" title="translation missing: en.weather_tables.sunrise">Sunrise</span>
—
—
—
—
—
7:11
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
7:11
—
—
—
—
—
—
<span class="translation_missing" title="translation missing: en.weather_tables.sunset">Sunset</span>
—
6:16
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
6:15
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
6:15
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 mm
1
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Temp °C
19
18
17
16
15
15
16
19
21
21
17
17
16
16
17
23
24
23
19
18
Feels °C
18
17
17
16
14
14
15
17
18
18
15
15
14
15
16
22
22
21
17
16
  • 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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