A "perfect storm" is an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically.[1] The term is also used to describe a hypothetical hurricane that happens to hit at a region’s most vulnerable area, resulting in the worst possible damage by a hurricane of its magnitude.
The phrase "perfect storm" occurred as early as the 1840s when William Makepeace Thackeray used it in his novel, Vanity Fair. The quote can be found in chapter 8. "I have heard a brother of the story-telling trade, at Naples, preaching to a pack of good-for-nothing honest lazy fellows by the sea-shore, work himself up into such a rage and passion with some of the villains whose wicked deeds he was describing and inventing, that the audience could not resist it; and they and the poet together would burst out into a roar of oaths and execrations against the fictitious monster of the tale, so that the hat went round, and the bajocchi tumbled into it, in the midst of a perfect storm of sympathy."
However, it should be noted that the construction could be read as using "perfect" as an adjective to describe the "storm of sympathy". That is, a storm of sympathy well suited to his purpose, so that "perfect storm" was not intended to stand alone as a term.
In 1993, journalist and author Sebastian Junger planned to write a book about the 1991 Halloween Nor’easter storm. In the course of his research, he spoke with Bob Case, who had been a deputy meteorologist in the Boston office of the National Weather Service at the time of the storm. Case described to Junger the confluence of three different weather-related phenomena that combined to create what Case referred to as the "perfect situation" to generate such a storm:
- warm air from a low-pressure system coming from one direction,
- a flow of cool and dry air generated by a high-pressure from another direction, and
- tropical moisture provided by Hurricane Grace.
From that, Junger coined the phrase "perfect storm" and chose to use The Perfect Storm as the title of his book.
Junger published his book The Perfect Storm in 1997 and its success brought the phrase into popular culture. Its adoption was accelerated with the release of the 2000 feature film adaptation of Junger's book. Since the release of the movie, the phrase has grown to mean any event where a situation is aggravated drastically by an exceptionally rare combination of circumstances.[1]
Although the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter was a powerful storm by any measure, there have been other storms that have exceeded its strength. According to Case, the type of convergence of weather events to which he was referring, while unusual, is not exceptionally rare or unique, despite the way the phrase is commonly used.[2][3]
The phrase was awarded the top prize by Lake Superior State University in their 2007 list of words that deserve to be banned for overuse.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Andrew Stern (2008-01-01). "Wordsmiths, avoid these words.". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0160393320080101. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
- ^ (2000, June 29). "Meteorologists Say 'Perfect Storm' Not So Perfect", Science Daily
- ^ West, James. (2000, July 6). "The naming of 'The Perfect Storm'", USA Today
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