Shannon Hawkes

December 8, 2021

Project: Weather in the Movies

I chose the film: The Perfect Storm for this assignment mainly because I wanted to watch a movie
that I had never seen before and that had something to do with hurricanes, which is the weather
phenomenon that I find most interesting. The move is about a fishing boat, The Andrea Gail, that heads
out off the coast of Massachusetts for a late season fishing trip. Without going into too much detail of the
theatrics of the movie, the main event was that the boat and crew were caught in “The Perfect Storm” and
unfortunately the boat and its crew were never recovered.
This was an interesting phenomenon for me to research, because I hadn’t ever heard of the storm
prior to this movie and had no idea the impact that it had on the east coast. “On October 27, Hurricane
Grace formed near Bermuda and moved toward the coast of the southeastern United States. Two days
later, Grace continued to move north, where it encountered a massive low pressure system moving south
from Canada. The clash of systems over the Atlantic Ocean caused 40-to-80-foot waves on October 30—
unconfirmed reports put the waves at more than 100 feet in some locations. This massive surf caused
extensive coastal flooding, particularly in Massachusetts” (History.com Editors, 2020). I found an
informative video on YouTube that shows how the tropical storm and Hurricane Grace collided to create
“The Perfect Storm”, which can be viewed by clicking here (The Halloween Storm, Also Known as “The
Perfect Storm” - 1991, 2012).
Although this movie was based on a true story about the fishing boat. The Andrea Gail, it was very
focused on the events that the ship specifically went through, even though that is all speculation because
it was never recovered. I think that they did a good job depicting the severity of the situation out at sea for
the crew, but the few times they flashed back to their families back at home they downplayed the severity.
There was one scene of the film where one of the wives got into her vehicle and drove from her home,
and along the coast to a bar where all the characters were sitting around like a normal day. I specifically
remember the scene of driving along the coast and thinking to myself how calm the coast looked in
comparison to what the crew was battling out at sea, and the fact that she was driving anywhere was
crazy! Linked here is footing from 1991, showing some of the waves and aftermath that the stormed
caused (The Halloween Storm, Also Known as “The Perfect Storm” - 1991, 2012). \
While watching the film, it was interesting to see quite a few instruments such as weather maps.
that we learned throughout this semester. I am glad that I chose this film, even though it was a bit
theatrical to give me the opportunity to learn about and research this event in history.

Citations
History.com Editors. (2020, October 28). “Perfect storm” hits North Atlantic. HISTORY.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/perfect-storm-hits-north-atlantic.
The Halloween Storm, Also Known as “The Perfect Storm” - 1991. (2012, April 27). YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJgAwSMuSA8&t=12s.
The Halloween Storm, Also Known as “The Perfect Storm” - 1991. (2012, April 27). YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJgAwSMuSA8&t=12s.