Water temperatures off the NSW coast are hitting near-record highs as the East Australian Current pushes closer to shore.

A waverider buoy located about 10km off the coast of Sydney's Northern Beaches was measuring sea surface temperatures of up to 26.2 degrees on Wednesday. This is about 3.5 degrees above average for February, which is the second warmest month of the year for water off Sydney, behind March.

According to Manly Hydraulics Laboratory, the highest temperature measured by Sydney's waverider buoy between 1992 and 2011 was 26.5 degrees, which also occurred during February.

Temperatures near the shore are a few degrees cooler than those being measured 10km off the coast. Nearshore water temperatures are currently sitting around 23 or 24 degrees.

Image: An eddy breaking away from the East Australian Currant is driving warm water towards the NSW coast.

An eddy that's broken away from the East Australian Current has brought warm water into coastal waters across Southern NSW in the past week, according to Craig Brokensha from Swellnet.

Impressively, the water temperature off the coast of Sydney was warmer than waters near Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour and Crowdy Head on Wednesday.