Top 10 Best Movies About Weather Disasters: Ranked

By Corey Johns

It wasn't that long ago when I was up all night long watching Hurricane Laura slam into Louisiana at such a powerful level that it kept its status as a hurricane until it hit Arkansas.

Weather has always fascinated me. Just about a week ago I was standing outside during a tornado warning holding an anemometer in the air trying to measure wind speeds. (This is not advised. If there is a tornado warning, seek safe shelter.) I've even considered going back to school to get a degree in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. There is something about the force of major weather events like hurricane or tornadoes, or just the uncontrollable nature of weather that is fascinating to me. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that I love movies about weather events.

(Editor's Note: Corey Johns says he wields a weather device in this windstorm pic,  but I prefer to think he's flipping the storm the bird.)

Movies about weather can be tricky to do because weather systems aren't always instant catastrophe like a tornado is. More often than not, they are cumulative in their damage taking place over a long period of time. But, there have been some great movies about weather, and here are my top 10 movies about weather (that I have seen).

Before I get to the list, weather needs to be a primary part of the movie, and weather has to have some sort of scientific realism in their effect. So, while there a blizzard that keeps Jack Torrance stuck in a hotel in The Shining, it is a Native American burial ground that has more of an effect on his character's action. In both The Fog and The Mist, weather events are very much at the forefront, but it is paranormal activity or other monsters that cause all the tension. Otherwise, it would just be a foggy day. I love Ice Age but the weather is very much a secondary part of the movie as an unlikely trio is battling the elements, but the movie is focusing on trying to return a human baby to its tribe. The weather adds to it but the movie could still be the movie it was in a different setting.

 10. Geostorm

I'm not sure what I really expected out of Geostorm but I remember leaving the theaters kind of disappointed when I saw this Gerard Butler/Ed Harris science fiction disaster film. However, the next time I watched it I actually enjoyed it for what it was. There were plenty of ridiculous moments and (obvious spoiler even by watching the trailer) it was about man-made weather systems, not nature weather systems, but visually, the movie is incredible. The power of the weather is on display in ways that are exaggerated, but realistic in how they would turn out at the level they happened.

9. Into the Storm

Opposite of Geostorm, I went into this movie with low expectations expecting a cheap Twister knockoff but was happily surprised with how enjoyable this movie was. It really did a great job of separating itself from the beloved Bill Paxton movie despite a somewhat similar plot of storm chasers trying to study these devastating weather events. It does rely more on disaster action that its spiritual predecessor but they made it work. Usually, over-the-top disaster movies have forgettable characters nobody cares about. I might not remember anything about the characters after turning the movie off, but I at least remember cheering them on while I was watching. So, at least I cared about them enough during its 89-minute run time to enjoy the plot.

8. All is Lost

Movies with one character onscreen are tough to keep exciting for the entirety of the movie. There are almost no spoken words in this movie. The only time there are words are when he tried to call for a mayday before realizing the radio on his boat is wrecked. There are down and sometimes boring moments in the movie. But, Robert Redford's ability to show anguish, despair, frustration, and defeat are amazing and make this movie worth watching. The movie does not start with a weather event. Instead, Redford, plays an unnamed character, is asleep on his boat, and wakes up with it flooding after he ran into a big cargo container that fell off a big ship floating out in the middle of the ocean, busting the hull. He patches it up, and finally gets the water out of the boat, and then runs into a tropical storm. His boat rolls multiple times, he's thrown into the water, but survives. He has to abandon his ship and get into an inflatable life raft. While in the inflatable life raft, another stop hits him. Redford is incredible in his survival movie as he faces the open ocean, dwindling supplies, and two massive storms.

7. Frozen 

Okay, I said the weather had to act natural and we know in this Disney animated feature based on the 1844 fairy tale “The Snow Queen” Queen Elsa has magical ice powers. But the snow and winter do act naturally, so I'll allow it. Plus, it's my list. Frozen is fun. Despite being a movie about fridge temperatures, it is heart-warming. It has a great dramatic story between two sisters, and the songs “Let it Go” and “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” are unforgettable.

6. Crawl

Frozen and Crawl can't be more different but I actually really enjoyed Crawl way more than I ever expected. It's probably not going to be No. 6 on most people's lists of best movies about the weather, but hurricane movies are very hard to do because again, they are cumulative events. But, Crawl make it work by including alligators in the swamps of Florida being able to roam free with a heightened water level. Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper play a father-daughter duo trying to survive the rising water and deadly alligators. This movie is action-packed, but it also doesn't move to fast so they are able to build tension and drama from start to finish. I was hooked from start to finish.

5. The Perfect Storm

This movie is great. George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg lead a strong cast with great acting that shows great ranges of emotions – from high highs of excitement to low lows of despair. When I first outlined this list, this movie was actually second on my list, but some personal preferences led to some adjustments in the order. Based on a true story, the Andrea Gail runs into the convergence of two powerful weather fronts and Hurricane Grace. Of course, we don't know exactly what happened on that boat, but the movie does a great job imagining what happened in a very real way while also showing the power of this weather system during the events following the fishing boat and a yacht that was caught out in the storm.

4. The Day After Tomorrow

A dramatized warning of the dangers of global warming, The Day After Tomorrow features a world-changing superstorm that brings earth back into an ice age. Jake Gyllenhaal is stuck in New York trying to survive with his friends while his father, played by Dennis Quaid, is doing everything he can to prepare the world for what is happening while also trying to get to Gyllenhall to rescue him. The weather events are catastrophic, the drama is intense, and the acting in the movie is tremendous. Of course, I did set parameters that the weather has to be somewhat scientific and certainly, this movie goes over-the-top with some unrealistic events not based on science, but it's believable enough and the movie is great to secure this spot on the list.

3. Snow Day

Surprised? Probably way higher than it should be but nostalgia plays a big role here in the placement of this movie. I really, really enjoy this movie. It's fun and came out when I was in fifth grade. I was the target audience who dreamed of a major and sudden snowfall that could cancel school that saw the snowplows as the bad guys trying to get me back to school earlier than I wanted because all I wanted to do was go sledding, have snowball fights, and build snow forts. Chris Elliott is amazing as the evil snowplow driver. Chevy Chase is so great as a meteorologist frustrated by a flashier weather reporter who turns out to be all theater and now substance. When I was 10-years-old first watching this movie the main love story was actually what I cared about the least, but over time I've grown to appreciate how well done it was written and performed.

2. Everest

I, like most people, don't care for 3D movies and I'm glad that era is cinema is for the most part over. But, Everest was one of the few movies that really was elevated by being 3D with the heights of the world's tallest mountain playing a huge part in it. But what makes Everest great, is even on a small screen, without a giant screen, without the surround sound, without the 3D glasses, Everest is still great. It's based on a true story, which makes it even more dramatic because we know the power of the blizzard hitting the Mountain and its devastating effects. Jason Clarke is tremendous as the least man in this movie as Rob Hall, an expedition group leader. Jake Gyllenhaal is great as his cocky rival. Josh Brolin is even better as an arrogant mountain climber and one of the few survivors of the ordeal. The acting really makes this movie. The visuals are absolutely stunning. The devastation of the weather event on the climb is tremendous.

Honorable Mention: White Squall

I really like White Squall and based on its name you'd think it should qualify for this list right? When I first wrote up my preliminary list I had this Jeff Bridges drama on it. But really, it's not a movie about the weather. It is really a coming-of-age movie for a group of young men on a boat with Bridges. At the end of the movie, they run into the storm. But so much happened before then. While that is somewhat similar to The Perfect Storm, simply, was more of the movie is about kids on a boat without weather having any sort of an impact. In The Perfect Storm, they run into multiple weather events and a huge portion of the movie is about the crew anticipating the storm, meteorologists preparing for the storm, and the actual events of the storm.

1. Twister

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that Twister is No. 1 on this list. It is the gold-standard of this genre but a fairly wide margin. Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt are incredible in the leads. The rest of the cast is great too with Philip Seymour Hoffman being the fun-loving member of the team and Cary Elwes being the arrogant rival. The plot is great and you can really get into the relationship between Paxton and Hunt, and the rivalry between the two storm chasing groups (even though the line “he's in it for the money, not the science” is hilarious to me. HOW DARE CARY ELWES WANT TO MAKE SOME MONEY CHASING DEADLY STORMS!) The scenes with the Tornadoes, which are all throughout the movie, are just incredible. They are devastating and are about as close as I ever want to get to seeing what they can do.

Honorable Mention 2: Adrift – SPOILERS

I waited until completing my list to mention this second honorable mention because there is going to be a spoiler. So, if you don't want a spoiler for a movie based on a true story from 1983, then don't read anymore. It's your last chance. If you are still reading. I really enjoyed this movie and was about to have it in my Top 10...until the ending. And yes, until the ending of a movie based on a true story. Adrift is about the true survival story of Tami Oldham, who was sailing a yacht from Tahiti to California with her fiance. On their trip, they hit Hurricane Raymond and the boat rolls multiple times. Her fiance Richard was swept overboard but she sees him hanging onto a dinghy that was swept off the boat. She swims out, saves him, and brings him back on the boat. He has a broken rib, his leg is shattered and he can't help her at all. There are a lot of flashback scenes to show their budding romance. Their dynamic on screen in the past and present is great. Her growth from the start of the movie to the end is great when without his help she is able to be an ultimate survivor. And then you learn he was nothing but a hallucination the entire time. He was lost as sea immediately when the boat rolled. She was inside the cabin and was able to stay with the boat. So, the movie based on a true story actually wasn't what happened. Even worse, in her own story, she said dealing with Richard being gone was the hardest part of the entire time she remained adrift after the wreck before being found by another boat. She didn't even actually hallucinate him. It was all a hallucination endings are terrible as it was. It was all a hallucination ending in a movie based on a true story is bad. It was all a hallucination endings in a movie based on a true story where the hallucination part is entirely made up is beyond terrible.