An early piece in Heade's rare series focused on coastal storms, this work depicts Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, with a view from Prudence Island towards Rocky Point. The artist based the composition on a sketch made around 1858 while witnessing an approaching storm. Instead of opting for the usual dramatic portrayal of storms at their height, Heade chose to capture the uneasy stillness before the storm's arrival—what one contemporary critic described as the 'ominous hush'—as dark clouds loomed overhead, casting a strange light across the scene.