Big storms could bring trouble to the central Plains and the central Mississippi Valley later today and tonight.

Driving the storms is the interaction between extremely hot and humid air baking the southern Plains and a weak cold front diving southward.

Big summer thunderstorms producing gusty winds and downpours will develop throughout the afternoon and could cause major problems for commuters in Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago.

Downpours accompanying the storms will produce flash flooding, so track the storms using our WeatherRadar and be sure to have alerts activated.