rain drops arriving late this afternoon today. people are wondering if it's all snow. no. it's going to start as rain. that's the challenge, how much moisture do we waste as rain drops before we switch over? there could be an ugly period of sleet or iciness before everything goes to plain old snow. winter storm warnings are up. it will start as rain. there will be a wintery mix of sleet and freezing rain then over to snow by midnight and 3:00 a.m. over to all snow before you get up. travel difficult and dangerous. snow ends tomorrow afternoon. here's the leading edge of the snow pushing to far western maryland. local storm team 4 radar shows a dry and mild start. temperatures in the 40s. 44 now, 50 by noon. low 50s for a time this afternoon. mild weather, first drop as arriving after 3:00 or 4:00 this

afternoon. high impact event. the best chance of snow totals between the five and ten inch amount through the heart of the city. back down to zones of the specific forecast amounts when i see you iminutes. that cold forecast. >> looking forward to it. thanks. right now there's a rush to buy snow supplies. stores are having a tough time keeping that ice melt in stock. we are live with derrick at a store. how are things looking so far? >> reporter: even if you weren't listening to excellent storm team 4 forecasts, you could stake this place out and tell snow was coming because of supply of shovels come income and the number of people buying them. watching that dwindle. it's been a busy morning here. as soon as they opened they had a rush on shovels. we watched them stock them two or three times. they're having a hard time keeping up with ice melt. they got a pallet and sold out

yesterday. they're getting a shipment tomorrow morning. that's too late for a lot of folks. ancient explorers traveled around looking for salt. now it's a search for sand and snow melt. a lot of the searches have been no no a vail. >> i'm originally from minnesota. we get snow a lot. this is unusual for d.c. obviously. i love the snow, but i have to admit i'm getting tired. >> reporter: of course his being fed up isn't helped by his inability to locate ice melt or salt. they're going to have some tomorrow. hopefully in time for a lot of people. people are making altercations. they're stocked up with sand. ice melt for now, you're going to have to look far and wide. derrick ward, news 4. back to you. >> thanks derrick.

alexandria is urging everyone to stay off the roads during and after the storm so crews can clear. crews will clear may primary and emergency roads first. 44 acres of parking lots and city owned scares. crews tweeted a picture of a truck loading up at a salt facility. the city says it has a good supply ready to go. they have crews standing by to treat the roads. they'll monitor the weather and deploy the teams when time is right. we got a check on maryland and the district. they're preparing for another round of snow. the public works says it will have 200 plows on the roadways by 2:00 a.m. before the morning rush. new york avenue in northeast will be a street they work to keep clear. be sure to give plows plenty of space to work. district leaders remind you to

treat your sidewalk with salt, deicer or kitty litter before the snow starts falling. track the storm from the palm of your hand. download the you nbc washington app. search on the app store or on google play. new developments on the crisis in ukraine. troops put a military tank at the gate of the same base where hundreds of gunmen have assembled. those gunmen are believed to be part of the russian military. this comes after the day president barack obama spent 90 minutes on the phone speaking to vladimir putin. nato will spend the day discussing the crisis. today in washington you'll likely see people protesting the presence in ukraine. yesterday similar protests happened around the world

including outside the russian diplomatic offices in toronto and ottawa. in minute, david gregory joining us to talk about how the u.s. could respond to the crisis in ukraine. today david talks to secretary of state john kerry and marco rubio about what happened since russia has intervened. from potholes in the street to cracks on bridges, the new price tag to fix the problems and improve the safety of your commute. the honoring of african-americans this is still a work in progress. the biggest story now on nbcwashington.com is the weather.

this winter has been a tough

one especially on the roads. when you combine the snowy season with years of neglect, a lot of work will need to be done to make highways and bridges safer. tom costello has more on what those might cost. >> reporter: building a new expanded interchange to handle traffic from the rapidly growing suburbs, one upgrade to bridges that's cracked, crumbled, patched up and rusted. after the bridge collapse in washington state after a tractor trailer clipped the support beam. now americans dodge the landscape of potholes t the government has put a price tag on what it will cost to get roads and bridges back to where they should be. up to $145 billion per year in state and local money. another $25 billion to improve the rail and bus systems. anthony fox. >> we have a leaky roof. what happens when you have a

leaky roof, if you don't fix it, it becomes more expensive to put it back together again. >> congress has spent billions on instra structure and improvement, transportation for america reports 11% of america's bridges are insufficient. that's 66,000 bridges needing repair or replace m. pennsylvania has the most with 5,500. this bridge built in 1950 carries 70,000 carries a day. it is starting to strain from the load. >> president barack obama called on congress to overhaul the business tax code. >> rebuilding our infrastructure is vital to businesses. >> the divided congress is likely to go along. the roads and bridges continue to take a pounding.

nbc news, washington. >> and another museum coming to the district. >> this hasn't even opened yet but getting a lot of buzz. why this museum has special meaning for so many. chuck, what's the latest on the weather? >> early computer models are coming. in results are consistent with what we've been saying. s us? are you there? yore breaking . is it you or is it me? wait, no. dude, i'm lagging. is it you or is it me? why is it so slow? is it you or is it me? [ male announcer ] if you're not on 100% fiber optics, it's you. verizon fios is 100% fiber optic, comcast isn't. so you can video chat smoother. game with less lag time. and upload a 5-minute hd video in 20 seconds.

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this just in now from loudoun county. people in the county are warned to boil their water. the water system experienced a service disruption. the government there tells us everything might be fine.disini tantds. the order should be lifted tomorrow. >> it's not set to open until next year. this morning there's excitement for d.c.'s museum. >> the museum of african-american history and culture will play many roles for ren ja generations the to come. >> once inhabited by slaves and owners is now transformed into a permanent home for african-american history. >> our goal is you'll come through the museum and be changed. >> the smithsonian national african-american history museum will take its place among the

other natural treasures here. >> this is the largest exhibit space. >> the director says this space will be different. >> the reality is that the story of the african-american experience not as a story simply for african-american but a story that profoundly shapes our identity as americans needs to be told. >> he's a veteran in his field. unlike past project, he and his team are building this from the ground up. >> 30,000 artifacts. is that right? >> we started with zero. well the biggest fear i had taking this job was could i find the stuff of history? >> he has from the dress rosa parks was stitching to a plane flown a decade by world war ii

tuskegee airman and louis armstrong's trumpet. >> i was truck you have michael ja -- >> every time i look at objects i'm moved to tears. >> some exhibits like this 1920s segregated rail car was so large cranes had to lower them into place. >> all you can see now is a hole in the ground. in a month or so you'll see the structure for the first two floors. ultimately there will be five above ground levels. it will take a year and a half before the entire museum is finished. congressman john lewis introduced legislation for the museum 15 times before it was passed. i take it personally because -- i gave a little blood on the bridge in selma. i don't want us to repeat that sad part of our history. we must never go back.

we must continue to go forward. >> personal for the nation's first african-american president who will have his own exhibit here. >> that's why what we built here won't just be achievement for our time. it will be a monument for all time. >> the stakes couldn't be higher. >> your father passed a year ago? >> with his death it reminded me okay history can't wait. there are people that need to see this. >> reporter: a museum not to preserve the past but mold the future. nbc news washington. >> a lot of emotions. >> can't wait to see it when it's finished. >> i run by there quite a bit. construction comes s along nice >> today would be the day to go out. >> today is the nicest of the next week to get out and do anything. it's going to be cloudy but mild

today with temperatures in the 50s. don't be fooled. don't walk out and say chuck doesn't know what he's talking about. it's 55 degrees today. it will snow tomorrow. i guarantee it. we'll start with rain, finish with snow. some places could get quite a wallop from old man winter. winter storm warnings are up for everybody in the news 4 nation. they start tonight and continue through the day tomorrow. the winter storm warnings continue further out to the west. i wouldn't be surprised to see the warnings expanded further to the south. the morning model runs are taking the center a little further south. yesterday it was just up to the north of washington. this time just down to the south. from a heavy snow perspective, you want on the near north side of wherever that service low goes. when you maximize the snow. it's all inching in our

direction. a full overcast in washington. temperatures continue to climb. 44 degrees now at national airport a. 55 in fredricksburg. 39 hagerstown. a big spread of temperatures now. that arctic air is going to slide down through tonight and tomorrow. your hometown forecast. 56 degrees by early afternoon a, highs in the mid and upper 50s. rain drops settling in after 4:00 to 6:00. above freezing, still rain at 11:00 p.m. temperatures get down to the freezing mark around 2:00. a period of sleet or freezing rain before everything changes to all snow. temperatures tomorrow continue to go down during the daylight hours. so this is real arctic air. it will change everything to snow. lit hard pack in as well. here's the future weather forecast. rain moving in this afternoon.

there's the leading edge of change over by 8:00 tonight, northern maryland. moving into the metro by 2:00 a.m. there's the sleet down to southern maryland. all snow thereafter. the local computer model. this is the most pessimistic from the snow perspective. giving snowfall amounts generally in the two to five inch range. i think that's on the low end. this model takes into account more in the way of rain before the switch over. every other computer model is way more aggressive on snow. as a result, our storm team 4 official forecast is for a broad area of six to ten inches in and around the metro area. southern maryland about four inches in st. mary's county. six on the northern neck. eight inches to southern prince george's county. across northern virginia, biggers manassas, warrenton, a lot of spots getting ten inches

or more. in the metro, maybe six inches downtown where we don't get as much snow. eight or nine inches possible in the northern and western suburbs. with all that in mind, here's a quick check of the four day forecast. enjoy the mild weather today. a lot of snow tomorrow. snow ends tomorrow afternoon. temperatures continue to tumble. rain drops, little ice, big pile of snow. then the deep freeze. we'll stay below freezing tuesday. the real chance to melt anything may not be until wednesday or thursday. pick a good snow man nape. he might be on the lawn for a while. >> thanks chuck. today leaders said the country you is on brink of disaster and urged vladimir putin to pull back the military. >> u.s. tries to calm the crisis in ukraine. that's the big issue up on "meet the press." joining us now, david gregory. >> hi. secretary of state john kerry is my guest this morning. at a critical time.

the administration is taking a hard line against vladimir putin and russia. the president has been saying don't do this. russia has gone ahead and done it. secretary of state john kerry says he thinks this is a pretext to the crimea peninsula in the eastern part of ukraine that is part of the ukraine. this is a serious act. the question is, what next? what consequences are the president prepared to pursue at this point? >> is the president doing anything to get putin to retreat? >> he talked to him 90 minutes yesterday. i don't think the the the talks went well. i don't think putin is interested he says he's there to protect russian interests, russians themselves in ukraine. kerry says that's not a pretext but a false pretext for why they're sending forces in. >> with all this happening so fast, we're watching it unravel. could this be the biggest foreign policy challenge for the administration so far?

>> it's hard to count just one. the problem is it comes at a time when russia is major irritant in syria. the peace is not going well with questions about afghanistan. there's no doubt this is a front burner issue for the administration as it tries to marshal other countries to support the u.s. and isolate russia which i think is the only step he's prepared to take. there are republicans who will be on the program who say we have to call russia what it is, a country acting like an enemy of the united states. >> david, "meet the press" a few minutes away at 10:30. see you then. >> thanks. once snow moves out, we're go ready for a big grand opening. the celebration you may want to get in line for in the week ahead. >> we're on first thing tomorrow morning bringing you delays and cancellations. news 4

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in the week ahead, carnival celebrations happening around the world will wrap up on fat tuesday also known as mardi gra. people dressed in elaborate costumes are dancing in the streets in brazil. the party is also in new orleans. >> christians around the world mark ash wednesday, the

beginning of lent. the symbolic mashing on the forehead with ashes represents repenitence. this is a 30 day period of spiritual reflection before easter. people working and living in the area of rosland will have a tasty alternative. ben's chili bowl opens with special guests and friend's of ben's family, bill cosby. this is the second standing location. that's cool. 100% confirmed. snow or not, bill cosby will be there. >> nice. chili will be had. >> he will not serve jello. >> i forgot about jello. >> hot chili tomorrow. a lot will need it. >> three alarm chili necessary tomorrow and the rest of the week. here's the latest snow forecast map i tailored an hour ago.

we'll continue to fine tune this as snowflakes get closer. on average, plan for at least six to maybe as much as ten inches of snow. there is both up and down side potential to the amount. we'll fine tune the forecast in the coming hours. a cancellable level event tomorrow. we'll have the four by four out and deep freeze follows the snow. whatever comes down tomorrow will be frozen solid. >> that ice, going to have to watch out for that. >> that's right. >> a slippery week. >> that's going to do it for this edition of news 4 today. >> "meet the press" is here are two laptops.

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from nbc news in washington, the world's longest running television program, this is "meet the press" with david gregory. >> and good sunday morning. one week later, the good will from the olympic games has been replaced by an international crisis as russia flexes its military might. how should president obama respond to a crucial test of his leadership after russia sent troops into the cry meania pensula, which is part of the ukraine? secretary of state john kerry calls it an invasion and ukraine has mobilized its army now. it is our top issue this morning. re