Something woke me up just before 4 a.m. today, and while I was trying to fall back to sleep, I heard a pattering sound beginning outside our open windows. It got a little louder, and gradually became a steady "white" noise. Rain! 

This morning it's still raining, a nice, slow, steady rain that has already delivered more than a half-inch to the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville. BWI-Marshall reports 0.6 inch, and the forecast calls for scattered showers until 11 a.m., followed by drizzle and more isolated showers this afternoon.

Here are some more overnight accumulations from CoCoRaHS. It's not a drought-ender for Western Maryland or the Lower Eastern Shore. But it's sure welcome. And the 7-day forecast shows a chance for more wet stuff by the end of this week.

Down in the tropics, meanwhile, Igor has become a Cat. 1 hurricane, with top sustained winds of 80 mph. The storm is located 1,200 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, moving to the west at 18 mph.

Forecasters expect Igor will continue to strengthen and become a "major" Cat. 3 storm by Monday night.

UPDATE, 11:00 a.m.: Igor has been upgraded to a 105-mph, Cat. 2 hurricane. 

UPDATED UPDATE, 2 p.m.: Rapid intensification today has boosted Igor to a Cat. 4 hurricane with top sustained winds of 135 mph. 

Here is the latest advisory on Igor. Here is the forecast storm track. And here is the view from orbit.

The Hurricane Center also expects a second named storm to join Igor later today. It is just forming off the coast of West Africa. When it's named, it will be Tropical Storm Julia.

UPDATE, 11:00 a.m.: This storm has been upgraded to Tropical Depression 12. It is expected to become a tropical storm by tonight or early Monday.

And there's a 50 percent chance a third system will join the cast in the next 48 hours. It is now a stormy region in the central Caribbean. If these storms take shape in this order, the third one will be Karl, the 11 the named tropical cyclone of the Atlantic season.