Storm Chase 2010 is making final preparations to take to the Great Plains on Saturday. With severe weather forecast for the northern plains, the opportunity is too good to resist so the hunt begins a day early.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed a slight risk for severe weather on an area from northeastern Colorado into Nebraska and then north from there. The risk for tornadoes is relatively small but even if we don’t see a twister, there is a good chance to witness some great storm structure as well as strong winds and hail.

The tour we are a part of isn’t officially supposed to start until tomorrow and we must be in Denver this evening to meet with the rest of the group. As such, today’s chase will be relatively short and won’t cover too much of a distance.

Roger Hill, famed storm chaser and tour leader, will outline the plans for the chase later today but we are anticipating we will hunt northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska. If all goes according to plan, we should be on the road by noon (MDT) and on our way to the target area.

We will be bringing along Examiner and ThorntonWeather.com readers on this great chase. There are no guarantees because as we all know, Mother Nature is far from reliable – six days on the plains could yield little more than rain. However, confidence is high that you will be taken on a virtual ride unlike any other with videos, photos and more from the road.

To keep things simple, ThorntonWeather.com’s chief amateur meteorologist will be primarily posting things to the Storm Chase 2010 Examiner’s home page.  To be sure you don’t miss a thing, check the Storm Chase 2010 Examiner’s home page regularly. Be sure to click the “Subscribe” link at the top of the page and you will be emailed whenever a new story is posted.

Also, we will be posting regular updates from the road on Twitter via the Natural Disasters Examiner – click here to follow. On Facebook, be sure to ‘become a fan’ / ‘like’ the Natural Disasters Examiner as well to receive the latest right on there too.