National Weather forecasters have begun to slip some rain and possible thunderstorms into their forecast for Baltimore, chopping up what had looked like a perfect, sunny week ahead.

The culprit is an odd storm system spinning off the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas - almost like a little tropical storm system, except that it doesn't have a warm core like a tropical storm would.  Here's a look at the satellite view. And here's the satellite loop. You can see the storm's outer clouds moving into southern Maryland. That swirling low will shove some clouds and drizzle our way tonight as the storm moves slowly toward the coast. 

The National Hurricane Center is watching the storm to see whether it develops tropical qualities. If it does, and it gets strong enough, it could become Tropical Storm Andrea nearly a month before the official opening of the 2007 Hurricane Season. 

The good news, I suppose, is that the clouds will keep us from getting quite as cold tonight as it was last night - 48 here at Calvert & Centre streets.

The bad news is the moisture will hang around long enough to impose a "slight" risk of thundershowers for the next few days. And more moisture will move in on us ahead of a cold front as the weekend approaches. Rain chances jump to 50 percent Friday night and Saturday. Sunday looks better from here, but there's more rain on tap for early next week.