Much of Ontario was treated to a freak thunderstorm on Tuesday, with mild temperatures and wet conditions that were unlike any February 27 in recent memory.

While thermometers in Toronto rose to over 11 C, in other parts of the province, highs were much higher amid hail and torrential downpours.

Windsor, which was hit the hardest by the storm, ended up setting an all-time warm weather record for the month, with unheard-of temps of a whopping 21 C.

This is proving to be especially astonishing and concerning to residents, who are now chattering about not only the abnormal spring-like storm, but also the bonkers temperature swings both before and after it, as a deep freeze is set to take over the province Wednesday night and Thursday.

February thunderstorms and hail are baffling Ontario residents https://t.co/FBQNidPiWR

— blogTO (@blogTO) February 28, 2024

In a Reddit discussion about Windsor's near-tropical late-Feb weather, people are chiming in about the unbelievable swings they saw in their own cities.

A citizen of Ottawa said temps went from what felt like negative double digits on Monday night to 14 C on Tuesday, while someone else shared Toronto's forecast, which is due to fall from around 13 C and sunny on Wednesday to a flash freeze of - 6 C overnight (which will feel more like - 14 C with the wind chill, just hours after unseasonable warmth). 

In Sudbury, things are even more dramatic, with conditions slated to drop from 5 C to -30 C with the wind chill in just a few hours' time on Wednesday.

Today's Extreme Thunderstorms Resulted in an Unbelievable February Temperature of +21C in Windsor, Ontario
byu/MTINC inontario

"Normal for February. Absolutely nothing to worry about," one person joked in the comments section, echoing the tone of many others that took a "this is fine" attitude made famous by the dog-enjoying-coffee-in-burning-room meme.

"This is normal, everything is fine, no reason billionaires are building bunkers right now or anything. It's just something they're doing for fun," one added, to which another replied "Ignore the eco terrorists with their private jets. In fact, you should pay them all of your money."

Still others expressed fears about upcoming crop yields, forest fires and Earth's future in general.

"This planet is so f***ed, it's hilarious," someone stated.

Toronto just broke another all-time weather record and people are worried 😳 https://t.co/4IYz0oOzes #Toronto #Weather #Record

— blogTO (@blogTO) January 8, 2024

This week's weather is especially disconcerting due to the fact that it comes after so many weeks of record-setting, unusually hot weather that left most of the province without any of the usual indications of the seasons — no fall colours, no white Christmas, and no winter at all, really.

 To be fair, we did know a temperate, flip-floppy winter was on the way thanks to El Niñ0.

As we move into the latter half of the week, some areas are finally expected to get a blast of snow, with snow squall, flash freeze, extreme cold, and other weather alerts issued for almost the entire province.

Wednesday afternoon will start off sunny and 13 C in Toronto, but will quickly drop to -2 C and windy by later in the day. By Wednesday night, we could see some flurries, with a forecast of -5 C and - 13 C with the wind chill.