perfect storm

perfect storm

A chance or rare combination of individual elements, circumstances, or events that together form a disastrous, catastrophic, or extremely unpleasant problem or difficulty. The incumbent mayor's re-election campaign is getting underway amidst a perfect storm of allegations and news stories about corruption, tax evasion, and racketeering within the city's government. The oil crisis has set off a perfect storm in the Middle East, where foreign leaders have depended on its economic stability to keep their warring countries from absolute chaos and anarchy.
See also: perfect, storm
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • come to a bad end
  • come to a bad/sticky end
  • a sad state (of affairs)
  • a sorry state (of affairs)
  • about last night...
  • be a fate worse than death
  • gut-wrenching
  • in for
  • be in for
  • be in for something
References in periodicals archive
For The Perfect Storm, the bosses were Warner Bros.
Cllr Jane Corbett - called the cuts a 'perfect storm'
Founder and CEO of Perfect Storm Media, Tom Nabielec, commented:
If the Frankenstorm" hits New York, the city could shut down its mass-transit system ahead of time to prevent people from being trapped in underground floods caused by the latest perfect storm.
Retail analysts at Evolution Securities warned the figures showed "the impact of a perfect storm on the sector".
"It would be a perfect storm that would combine to create an aviation accident," he added.
"We could see that perfect storm coming to fruition in about the middle of 2006, late 2006, and I would contend that it did," he told the inquiry.
For the 2002 film "Signs," the 2002 film "The Bourne Identity" and the 2000 film "The Perfect Storm," Zargarpour worked as the visual effects supervisor.
BUDGET airline Ryanair, which operates services from Durham Tees Valley Airport, today warned a "perfect storm" of higher oil prices and weaker consumer demand could hit the firm next year.
Sponsored by New York Private Bank & Trust, the luncheon speaking program will examine national interest in the NYC real estate investment market, as recent shifts in residential real estate prices and the upswing in commercial properties in Manhattan create a potential perfect storm for investment.
These are tough times for this proud and able community and it is going to take an extraordinary effort to overcome the vagaries of an industry experiencing a perfect storm of high energy prices, challenging market conditions, a rising Canadian dollar and rising costs for raw materials.
Among the other widely known problem spots is the Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge in New York, where salt marshes suffer from a perfect storm of sediment starvation, dredging, wastewater effluent and even wave action from boats that threatens to drown them by 2020.
For the above reasons, the one to back at 20-1 this morning is Perfect Storm, who bounced back to form on soft ground at Yarmouth last time when hacking up in a competitive handicap run at a strong pace, and can race off the same mark as when a close fourth in a top-class handicap at York earlier in the season.
Like ``the perfect storm'' at sea which inspired a blockbuster movie, it was the result of a number of titanic events coming together.
The Bush administration is tacking dangerously close to a perfect storm if it stays a course of government getting into the business of financing religion.