If you were expecting some kind of sun sign nonsense, forget it. This is real astrology. See the section above. Please note: this forecast is expressed in terms of Universal Time (UT).

"September 1st looks stormy and restive, in the aftermath of the August 31 lunar perigee (closest approach to Earth)," I warned. "Moderate to severe earthquakes (Richter 5 and higher) and volcanic eruptions" were listed as signs of the "geocosmic unrest" on tap then, and at other specified times during the month. Sure enough, on the very day of the August 31 lunar perigee, Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi on Flores island erupted, hurling burning debris and ash to a height of some 2,500 meters above its mile-high summit. The eruption continued unto Monday, spewing hot ash up to eight kilometers (five miles) downwind of the crater. Hundreds of villagers living on the slopes of Lewotobi fled, leaving their burning homes and crops behind.

I had predicted "that the greatest risk for storm and seismic disturbances comes around the 5th, between the 10th and 13th, around the 19th, and from the 25th through the 29th." Right on schedule - "around the 5th" - Hurricane Fabian, the most powerful storm to hit Bermuda in 50 years, lashed the island with winds of up to 120 mph on Friday the 5th, felling trees and power lines and causing flooding in some areas. Four people were missing after their cars were swept off a causeway into the sea, and some 25,000 homes were without electrical power in the aftermath of the storm. Fabian hit Bermuda as a Category 3 storm on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. The most powerful storm of this Atlantic hurricane season to date - a record that wouldn't last long - it was also the most powerful storm to hit Bermuda since Hurricane Edna hit in September 1953 with 120 mph winds.

Next, and also right on schedule - "between the 10th and 13th" - the most powerful typhoon in South Korean history flogged the southeastern coast of that nation with 135-mph winds on the evening of the 12th. By the time Typhoon Maemi subsided into a tropical storm on Saturday the 13th, more than 60 people were dead and dozens were missing. The worst storm ever to hit South Korea flipped over a floating hotel, twisted massive cranes, killed at least 62 people and left another 25 missing Saturday. Tens of thousands of people had to be evacuated, as nearly 18 inches of rain fell overnight, triggering landslides and floods. Early damage estimates exceeded 1.3 billion dollars (US), just a couple days after the storm hit.

As Typhoon Maemi wrought havoc in the Pacific, one of the mightiest hurricanes in history was gathering strength in the Atlantic. Isabel, the second major hurricane of the season (Category 3 or higher), swirled to life as a tropical storm on September 6, and rapidly grew to hurricane status by the 7th. By Friday the 12th, as Maemi was pounding South Korea, Isabel hit Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds in excess of 160 mph. Category 5 hurricanes are the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity, and are capable of widespread destruction if they hit land. Only three Category 5 hurricanes have hit the U.S. mainland since 1900, according to National Hurricane Center records - the unnamed storm of 1935 in the Florida Keys, Camille in 1969 on the Gulf coast, and Andrew, which became the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history when it hit the Miami area in 1992. As I write this (September 15), Hurricane Isabel is projected to make landfall somewhere between North Carolina and New England on the 18th - which would be right on the schedule of "greatest risk for storm and seismic disturbances" set forth in my September forecast ("around the 19th").