Perfect storm
The term perfect storm is a literal translation of the English expression perfect storm and denotes a maximum disaster .
Origin and meaning
What is meant in the original sense is an extremely rare storm phenomenon, the occurrence of which is very unlikely because numerous conditions have to come together. The term mainly refers to Sebastian Junger's bestseller The Perfect Storm . A True Story of Men Against the Sea back. The book is about a devastating, in the negative sense “perfect” hurricane in October 1991 off the east coast of the USA , which led to the sinking of the fishing ship Andrea Gail . In this case, three weather phenomena met:
- a low pressure area moving eastward from mainland North America ;
- a high from Canada that carried cold and dry air and was heading south;
- warm and humid remains of hurricane "Grace".
In the advertising of Sebastian Junger's book it was said:
“It was“ the perfect storm ”—a tempest that may happen only once in a century — a nor'easter created by so rare a combination of factors that it could not possibly have been worse. Creating waves ten stories high and winds of 120 miles an hour, the storm whipped the sea to inconceivable levels few people on Earth have ever witnessed. "
“ It was 'the perfect storm' - a storm that can only occur once in a century, a northeast wind caused by such a rare combination of factors that it couldn't possibly have been worse. The storm caused waves ten storeys high and winds of 120 miles per hour, whipping the sea to unimaginable heights that few people on earth have ever seen. "
The book and the term became known in particular through the film adaptation of Wolfgang Petersen with George Clooney in the leading role. Like the book, the film bears the title The Perfect Storm in the original English , only Der Sturm in the German distribution .
The expression “perfect storm” then found its way into everyday language in many countries and is also often used in a figurative sense, for example in politics and the financial sector, to express that “it can hardly get worse”.
Individual evidence
- ^ Sebastian Junge: The Perfect Storm. Little Brown and Company, 1997, blurb