October 29 - 31, 1991 - - No Name Storm

Notes from: Worst Storms of the Century series by Boston 7 News, Todd Gross

Weather systems usually travel from west to east in our hemisphere, but on rare occasion, a storm will track in the opposite direction. This "backwards" motion occurred on October 30th, 1991, as a massive ocean storm in the Atlantic backed in, looping furiously towards New England, and unleasing a devasting blow to the Massachusetts coastline.

The storm began as Hurrican Grace on October 27th. The tropical system remained out at sea, but merged with another storm in the Mid-Atlantic by October 30th. A strong impulse in the upper atmosphere dropped out of Canada, causing the new hybrid storm to explode and "back" towards southern New England.

The No Name Storm was the storm that inspired the book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea,written by Sebastian Junger.