Special weather statement issued for Toronto ahead of thunderstorm

Spring will get off to an incredibly warm, albeit violent start in Toronto on Friday, if meteorologists are correct.

Environment Canada just issued a special weather statement for the city that calls for "brief severe wind gusts" and "scattered thunderstorms" with up to 25 mm of rain possible in some areas.

"An approaching warm front will cause an area of showers and thunderstorms to move through the regions this evening and tonight," reads the federal weather agency's statement, issued Thursday. 

"Some of the storms may contain heavy downpours with local rainfall amounts of 15 mm in an hour or total amounts near 25 mm possible."

Environment Canada is calling for severe winds and thunderstorms over the next 24 hours, with a steep temperature drop to follow. Image via Environment Canada.

The aforementioned wind gusts are expected in the morning or early afternoon as a cold front approaches, followed by a band of showers and thunderstorms.

"Scattered winds gusts near or exceeding 90 km/h or more will be possible in this band," notes Environment Canada. "Where these winds develop, power outages would likely occur."

On the bright side, temperatures are expected to rise all the way up to 15 C tomorrow before plunging like a stone.

Warm, wet and windy? Hey, I'll take it. It's not like the weather can ruin any plans at the moment anyway.