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Surf Forecasts:
Witsands surfForecast / Cape Town / South Africa
48hr Weather and Surf, issued 7 am Tuesday 19 May 2026 SASTForecast update in hr min s Forecast update imminent
Witsands surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.
Today's Witsands sea temperature is
16.6° C
(Which is slightly cooler than normal)How big are the waves at Witsands today?
The current surf forecast for Witsands at 3PM is: 3.0m 9s primary swell from a Southeast direction and 1.2m 13s secondary swell from a West-southwest direction, 0.2m 15s secondary swell from a South-southeast direction (forecast issued at 07:00am May 19). The wind direction is predicted to be cross-shore.
| Time (SAST) & Date | Wave Height | Wave Period |
|---|---|---|
| Morning (19 May) | 11ft (3.5m) | 9s |
| Afternoon (19 May) | 10ft (3.0m) | 9s |
| Evening (19 May) | 10ft (3.0m) | 9s |
Table - waves today at Witsands. (Swell directed towards the surf break)
Updates in hr min s Forecast update imminent
Short Range ForecastMostly dry. Warm (max 20°C on Wed afternoon, min 16°C on Wed morning). Winds decreasing (strong winds from the ESE on Tue morning, calm by Wed night). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday 19 | Wednesday 20 | Thursday 21 | Fri 22 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 | 2 AM | |
Swell Height Map |    |    |    |    | ||||||||||||||||||||
SE 8 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 8 | SE 9 | SE 8 | SE 8 | SSE 8 | SSE 8 | SSE 8 | SW 13 | SW 12 | SW 20 | SW 12 | SW 19 | SW 18 | |
1562 | 1817 | 1556 | 1367 | 1325 | 1351 | 1201 | 1242 | 1055 | 952 | 671 | 490 | 1124 | 390 | 289 | 219 | 153 | 142 | 163 | 144 | 136 | 144 | 227 | 314 | |
Wind (km/h) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross | cross | cross | cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross | cross-off | cross-off | glassy | cross-off | cross | cross-off | cross-off | cross-off | cross | cross | cross-off | |
High Tide | 5:17PM1.46m | 5:34AM1.43m | 6:11PM1.39m | 6:31AM1.29m | 7:12PM1.32m | |||||||||||||||||||
Low Tide | 11:02AM0.08m | 11:26PM0.22m | 11:52AM0.18m | 00:24AM0.31m | 12:48PM0.29m | 1:33AM0.40m | ||||||||||||||||||
 |  |  | | |  | | | | | | |  |  | | | | | | | | | | | |
 | 7:33 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:35 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:35 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:35 |
 | — | — | — | — | 5:51 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5:50 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5:49 | — | — | 5:49 |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Temp °C | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 |
9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | WSW 13 | WSW 13 | WSW 13 | WSW 13 | WSW 13 | WSW 13 | WSW 12 | WSW 12 | WSW 12 | WSW 12 | WSW 12 | SSE 11 | SE 8 | SSE 11 | SSE 11 | SSE 8 | SSE 8 | SSE 8 | SE 8 | SSE 8 | SSE 8 | SW 12 | SW 12 | SW 18 |
 kJ | 624 | 536 | 528 | 451 | 414 | 402 | 325 | 233 | 226 | 184 | 180 | 111 | 410 | 84 | 81 | 219 | 153 | 123 | 82 | 95 | 74 | 144 | 137 | 314 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | S 16 | — | S 15 | SSE 15 | SSE 14 | SW 10 | — | SSE 12 | SSE 12 | SSE 12 | SSE 11 | WSW 12 | SSE 11 | WSW 11 | WSW 11 | SW 14 | SW 13 | SW 13 | SW 13 | SW 12 | SW 12 | S 7 | SSE 7 | SW 11 |
| kJ | 5 | — | 18 | 21 | 40 | 4 | — | 131 | 99 | 131 | 148 | 123 | 109 | 82 | 47 | 95 | 113 | 142 | 163 | 144 | 116 | 22 | 48 | 126 |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | S 20 | — | SW 16 | SSW 16 | SW 15 | WSW 12 | SW 15 | SW 14 | WSW 11 | SSE 11 | WSW 11 | S 7 | SW 20 | SW 20 | SW 20 | SW 19 | SSE 7 |
| kJ | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 8 | — | 11 | 25 | 36 | 119 | 75 | 102 | 47 | 47 | 23 | 44 | 66 | 136 | 134 | 227 | 36 |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SE 8 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 9 | SE 8 | SE 9 | SE 8 | SE 8 | — | — | — | NNW 2 | NNW 3 | NNW 3 | NNW 3 | NW 3 | NW 3 |
| kJ | 1562 | 1817 | 1556 | 1367 | 1325 | 1351 | 1201 | 1242 | 1055 | 952 | 671 | 490 | 1124 | 390 | 289 | — | — | — | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5 |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 29 | 18 | 18 | 10 | 29 | 29 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
Best forecast wave conditions in Cape Town | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best forecast wave conditions in South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Header Global | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 Witsands 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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