A plane with 10 people onboard went missing in rural Alaska during a severe winter storm. Search and rescue teams are looking for it, and medical personnel are "standing ready."

The plane, which was "overdue," was operated by Bering Air. It was reported missing just before 4 p.m. local time on Thursday while flying from Unalakleet to Nome in western Alaska.

Alaska's Department of Public Safety said there were nine passengers and one pilot on the Bering Air Flight 445, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan.

The plane left Unalakleet, a small town with 690 people, at 2:37 p.m. Officials lost contact with it less than an hour later, according to David Olson, Bering Air's director of operations. The plane stopped communicating about 10 minutes before it was supposed to land in Nome.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the plane was about 12 miles over the water above Norton Sound.

Officials said the pilot told air traffic control in Anchorage that he planned to circle in the air while waiting for the runway in Nome to be cleared. Then, the plane disappeared.

The Nome Volunteer Fire Department is searching on the ground in Nome and the White Mountains. Officials said bad weather and poor visibility have made the search difficult.

On Thursday evening, light snow and freezing drizzle were reported near Nome Airport, sometimes reducing visibility to just half a mile. Strong winds up to 35 mph were expected overnight.

The Coast Guard and U.S. Air Force joined the search, planning flights to look for the missing plane.

Officials said the Coast Guard's C-130 plane has special search and rescue equipment to find objects and people even in very poor visibility. The plane will fly in a grid pattern over the shoreline and water nearby.

"The plane's exact location is still unknown. We continue to expand search efforts to as many avenues as possible until the plane is located," the fire department said in an update late Thursday.

Norton Sound Health Corporation, a hospital in Nome, said it is "standing ready to respond to a community medical emergency."

On Facebook, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan shared his "thoughts and prayers" with the "passengers, their families and the rescue crew."

The search and rescue mission is happening while investigators are still looking into two deadly accidents in recent weeks.

Last Wednesday, an American Airlines jet and a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter crashed into each other in the air over Washington, DC, killing 67 people.

Two days later, a medical jet crashed in Northeast Philadelphia, killing seven people, including all six passengers.