The 30th anniversary of The Perfect Storm

Massive waves smash into the coast in Scituate, Massachusetts in late October 1991. The Halloween Nor'Easter or Perfect Storm as it would later be called, was responsible for 13 deaths from Newfoundland to North Carolina, and over $200 million dollars in damage. (WBZ)

This week marks the 30th Anniversary of one of the strongest unnamed storms to impact the eastern seaboard. The hybrid system was the coming together of strong low pressure located east of Nova Scotia, hurricane Grace moving northward from the tropics and a cold front sliding off the New England coast. The end result was a powerful ocean storm that developed on October 28 and persisted into early November 1991. I knew the system as the Halloween Nor'Easter, but it would later be referred to as "The Perfect Storm".

What made this storm so unusual was the huge area upon which its impacts were felt. Towering waves spread along the coast from Newfoundland to Puerto Rico.  The toll on the marine community was significant with several vessels lost or damaged at sea, and many others destroyed in port. The Coast Guard conducted hundreds of rescues, including the crew of a New York Air National Guard helicopter that ditched into the Atlantic after running out of fuel. Sadly one crew member was lost at sea.

No loss was more infamous than that of the Andrea Gail, a 72 foot commercial sword fishing boat out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The Andrea Gail and her crew of 6 would disappear approximately 290 kilometres northeast of Sable Island, Nova Scotia on October 28 at around 6pm. An exhaustive search by both the Canadian and US Coast Guard would only turn up scattered debris but little else. At the time of the sinking, seas were a record-breaking 30 metres high (100 feet) in the area where the Andrea Gail was last reported, and across the Scotian Shelf. The story of the Andrea Gail would later be told in a best selling novel by author Sebastian Junger called The Perfect Storm. The book was adapted into a movie in 2000 staring George Clooney.

The Halloween Nor'Easter was the coming together of several key ingredients into a once in a lifetime storm. The unnamed storm would have likely been a hurricane if naming criteria was then as it is today. It was National Weather Service Meteorologist Robert Case, when interviewed several years later, who described the system as "The Perfect Storm". (Accuweather.com)

Along the coast, the storm was ferocious, with 25 to 30 foot waves crashing into homes and businesses. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, many others were left uninhabitable. Coastal infrastructure including roads, piers and ports were destroyed. Widespread power outages were reported, with wind speeds exceeding 100km/h. Coastal New England was particularly hit hard. I visited the New Hampshire and northeast Massachusetts coastlines in November 1991, shortly after the storm hit. Major damage was visible everywhere. Another hard-hit are was the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Several hundred homes were damaged or destroyed and roads were closed by water and sand accumulation. I had been on the Outer Banks during the third week of October 1991, and just missed the storm.

As October turned to November, the storm was not finished, strengthening into a post-tropical cyclone and slamming into Nova Scotia on November 2. The Perfect Storm hit Atlantic Canada hard, with flooding, wind damage, power outages and over 100cm snow in Newfoundland. Widespread damage occurred, several boats were destroyed and power was out in large portions of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

By the time the storm moved away from North America, the death toll was 14, including 1 in a weather related traffic accident in Canada, with damage estimates exceeding $200 million.

NOAA Satellite image of "The Perfect Storm" located south of Nova Scotia on October 30, 1991