AUGUST 27

This is the start of the 'serious' hurricane season.  Last year on this date, Irene curled through the Caribbean and headed up the East Coast of the United States.  After drenching Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, it finally made landfall at the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  By the time it reached the North Atlantic, the storm was credited with 47 deaths and $15.6 billion in damage. 

Keep your eye on the weather pattern leaving the Sahara Desert region of North Africa - out of Mauritania, Western Sahara, and Senegal.  You can blame it all on them - and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream current.