Not backed by science

Rating: 5/10 (3 November 2017)

Not only does 2004 disaster film The Day After Tomorrow feature big names such as Jake Gyllenhall and Emmy Rossum, but dramatic scenes of hail, tornadoes, and tsunamis. And as entertaining as all of this may be, there are many aspects of the film that are not based in scientific fact at all.
For example, the Ideal Gas law is completely ignored in the scene where it is argued that the frigid air descending on the people of Earth and freezing everything in its path was "moving too fast" to heat as it made its descent. This is not plausible, because the speed of the air would never make a difference in the temperature of the air, only pressure would. In real life, the air would warm as it descended.
The movie also got several aspects of the storm wrong. For instance, the movie depicts several thunder storms merging together to create one huge blizzard with an eye at the center. This would be considered a hurricane, but hurricanes can only form over warm ocean water. A hurricane would also never be able to create a blizzard, as the temperature would never be able to drop low enough. The storm is also shown rotating both clockwise and counterclockwise in different scenes. However, due to the Coriolis effect all large storms in the Northern Hemisphere rotate counter-clockwise.
The many improbable scenes add up to create a story that may be fun to watch, but it is truly science fiction.