Arthur kicks off 2014 hurricane season, ruins July 4 celebrations for thousands along Eastern Seaboard

Hurricane Arthur definitely is not patriotic. The first storm of the 2014 Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico hurricane season is expected to hit the Wilmington, North Carolina, area tonight at category 2 strength.

Click images for Hurricane Arthur updates from The Weather Channel.

After making landfall in the Tar Heel State this evening, forecasters say Arthur should move northeastward along the east coast, leaving among its wreckage the Independence Day festivities of thousands.

The one saving grace is that folks had enough time to prepare, both their homes and their Fourth of July plans, for the first hurricane to strike the United States since 2012.

Wild weather that warrants tax help: Long-time readers of the 'ol blog know that I'm a weather as well as a tax geek. And those two things often converge.

Unfortunately, it's generally when the weather is so horrible that it's classified as a major disaster.

I've written about the tax options for disaster survivors over the years. That's changing.

No, I'm not going to quit telling folks to get ready for storms, both physically and financially (including taxes!), or providing information on how the Internal Revenue Service can help if they sustain storm damages.

Instead, rather than repeat that info yet again every time Mother Nature can't control her Mommy Dearest side, I'm going to direct folks to Don't Mess With Taxes' new Natural Disasters Resource Page.

As the name indicates, it has the basics on preparing for, dealing with and recovering from (with help from the IRS and generous folks who donate to relief efforts) Mother Nature's catastrophes. I've also included links to some outside resources.

Now you know I can't completely stop writing about wild weather. So I'll still publish separate storm-related blog posts when warranted. But in those posts, as here, I'll refer folks to the Natural Disasters Resource Page for additional help.

Although I'm pretty proud of the new disaster help page, I hope I don't have to send folks to it that often. But as I always nag say, it's better to be safe than sorry.