HOUSTON -- A family of four vanished without a trace after its small private plane took off from Steamboat Springs, Colo., KPRC Local 2 reported Saturday.

On the Cessna 182 four-seat plane was the pilot, Tommy Jacomini, his wife, Susie, and their two young children, 8-year-old Tommy Jr. and 6-year-old Victoria.

The family was headed back home to its ranch in Brenham, Texas. The family never reached its intended destination.

Relatives reported the family missing Saturday morning.

"It's the worst day in their lives," said Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch. "The worst day there will ever be in their life."

Tommy Jacomini is an executive with the Sempra Energy Trading Corporation. Relatives said he is an experienced pilot who is used to navigating through the mountainous areas that may have been on his route.

Officials said that he never filed a flight plan and no distress call was received.

Those involved in the search said the conditions are getting worse.

"The very worst conditions to do a search," Miller said. "They anticipate a storm coming in tonight dropping another foot of snow."

On Saturday, three aircrafts searched a vast area and Civil Air Patrol units from Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado were scheduled to continue the search through the weekend.

"We're just doing route searches along what could be their route. We're also processing cell phone data and radar data," said Maj. Mark Young of the Colorado Civil Air Patrol.

Civil Air Patrol will search through millions of radar targets to find the family, but radar coverage in the mountains is very poor.

Miller said he would be involved in flyovers and will also use drone airplanes.

"Hopefully, we can get out there and bring the resources to bring this to a close," he said.