El Capitan Surf Break

Lat Long: 34.46° N 120.02° W

El Capitan 48 hour detailed Surf Forecast

Issued: 4 am 09 Oct 2026 (local time)

Forecast update in  hr  min

Today's El Capitan sea temperature is
22.2°C
5.0° 

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 (09 Oct):

  • Morning surf: Morning surf (09 Oct, local time) - 3ft (0.9m), 15s period with SSW swell.
  • Afternoon surf: Afternoon surf (09 Oct, local time) - 3ft (0.9m), 15s period with SW swell.
  • Evening surf: Evening surf (09 Oct, local time) - 2.5ft (0.7m), 20s period with SSW swell.

The current surf forecast for El Capitan at 9AM is: 0.9m 15s primary swell from a South-southwest direction and 0.9m 11s secondary swell from a South direction (forecast issued at 04:00am October 09). The wind direction is predicted to be glassy and the swell rating is 3.

Time (PDT) & DateWave HeightWave Period
Morning (09 Oct)3ft (0.9m)15s
Afternoon (09 Oct)3ft (0.9m)15s
Evening (09 Oct)2.5ft (0.7m)20s

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


Short Range Forecast

Light rain (total 3mm), mostly falling on Sun night. Warm (max 27°C on Sat afternoon, min 15°C on Sun night). Wind will be generally light.

Friday
9
Saturday
10
Sunday
11
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)
3
3
3
2
0
1
3
3
3
2
2
1
2
3
3
2
2
2
3
3
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)
0.9
SSW
16
1
SSW
15
0.9
SSW
15
0.9
SW
15
0.9
SW
15
0.9
SW
15
0.7
SSW
20
0.7
SSW
20
0.7
SSW
19
0.8
SSW
14
0.8
SSW
14
0.8
SSW
14
0.8
SSW
18
1.3
WNW
12
0.9
SSW
18
1
SSW
18
1
SSW
17
2.1
WNW
8
2.3
WNW
9
2
WNW
10
1.6
WNW
10
1.5
WNW
11
1
SSW
16
1
SSW
16
Wave Graph
Metric surfscale
Energy kJ
430
493
403
326
322
318
336
395
332
268
268
268
356
421
443
637
563
601
846
716
532
532
532
525
Wind (km/h)
0
E
0
SE
0
W
10
SSW
10
SW
10
WSW
5
NW
10
NNW
5
NNW
5
NNW
5
N
5
WSW
10
SW
5
S
10
N
15
NNW
20
NNW
20
NNW
15
NW
20
WNW
20
WSW
10
SW
5
SSW
5
S
Wind State
glassy
glassy
glassy
cross-on
cross-on
cross-on
cross-off
off
cross-off
glassy
off
cross-on
cross-on
glassy
off
cross-off
cross-off
cross-off
cross-off
cross-off
cross
cross-on
cross-on
on
High Tide
9:22AM2.05m
9:49PM1.81m
9:47AM2.10m
10:35PM1.71m
10:13AM2.11m
Low Tide
3:06AM0.51m
3:43PM0.44m
3:36AM0.64m
4:23PM0.36m
4:03AM0.79m
5:04PM0.32m
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
clear
part cloud
part cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
cloud
part cloud
part cloud
clear
clear
part cloud
cloud
part cloud
<span class="translation_missing" title="translation missing: en.weather_tables.sunrise">Sunrise</span>
—
7:00
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
7:01
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
7:01
—
—
—
—
—
—
<span class="translation_missing" title="translation missing: en.weather_tables.sunset">Sunset</span>
—
—
—
—
—
6:32
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
6:31
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
6:30
—
—
 mm
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Temp °C
20
19
19
26
26
26
21
20
20
20
20
24
27
23
20
19
17
17
16
20
20
18
16
16
Feels °C
21
20
20
25
25
25
21
19
19
19
18
23
26
23
19
17
14
14
13
16
15
16
14
15
  • 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.


Nearest locationNearest