Its 7 00 a. M. On the west coast on a thursday. A lot of people talking about the satellite images captured sunday four days ago. The fact it was the australian Prime Minister who told the world about the pictures is adding a lot of significance to it. First glimmer of hope. They show whitish objects just under the surface of the indian ocean. This area is about 1500 miles southwest of perth, australia. Lets get right to nbcs tom costello. Hes been following this daybyday from the start. Tom, good morning. Hi, savannah, good morning. The malaysians say they believe these images in the ocean appear to be credible. One object 79 feet across, the other 16 feet across. The wingspan of a triple 7 is 200 feet. The tail is about 60 feet to give you some privilege. Lets talk about where this particular location was found. About the bottom of this area where the plane would have exhausted its fuel three to four hours from perth, australia, very close to the area of the zone the ntsb had said it would be wise to check that area about three to four hours outside of perth. A p ara aircraft has already searched that zone today. P3 did as well. They found nothing and more planes are scheduled to return to continue the search. The australian Prime Minister made the dramatic announcement in parliament. I would like to inform the house that new and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight mh 370 in the southern indian ocean. Images captured by satellite may be pieces of flight 370 missing since the Early Morning hours of march 8th when it disappeared from radar screens with 239 people on board. Military radar suggested it made a you turn to the strait of m l malacca to the indian ocean and mysterious pings suggests it may have thrown thousand of miles and as far as possible. John young. This is a lead, probably the best lead we have right now. We need to get there, find them, assess them to know whether its meaningful or not. Military search planes have been search to an area 1500 miles southwest of perth. The australian Prime Minister contacted his malaysian counter parts with the news. Its what i have been doing from day one following these leads. This time i just hope it is positive. Development. Every lead is a hope. We want to verify and corroborate. Reporter if the wreckage is found searchers want to find the black boxes. One of two men who found the air france black boxes in the atlantic says it wont be easy. On paper it may seem fairly straightforward. When you get out there on board a ship the world becomes very large, that ocean does and a plane becomes very small. When youre actually in the thick of it you can see how easy it can be to miss something. Reporter time is slipping away. Theyve got only 17 days until the batteries on those underwater locating pingers run out. If the plane is in this area, it could be anywhere 10 to 16,000 feet of water, very deep. An Australian Naval ship is en route to the area but not expected until sunday. An a krrc130 hercules dropping marker buoys in that area and nearby cargo ship is helping look for debris in this area. Were talking very rough conditions, 9 foot seas, 25 knot winds, poor visibility. That means if this is the wreckage from the plane, it might have already floated hundreds of miles in the ocean. Who knows the condition of the wreckage. Guys, back to you. Tom costello, thanks very much. Tom casey is a former pilot for American Airlines and flew the triple 7. Greg is a former investigator with the ntsb. Good morning to both of you. Greg, let me start with you. Its the australian Prime Minister that makes this announcement. That is significant and he wont get in front of the camera unless he thinks theres credibility. The second thing that raisthe sr attention is this piece of debris or wreckage or object was found in one of those arcs mentioned by the ntsb as a possible location where this plane could be found. Whats your gut reaction . Cautious optimism. It gives us hope that weve finally found at least some traces of the airplane. Again, with the coordinates and the fact they narrowed that search zone down in the southern part near australia. It was one of those things that was to be expected, and that with the wreckage being so close it could be this airplane where it ran out of fuel because thats why the search zone was narrowed finally came to fruition that we may, for the first time, have some credible evidence that we havent really seen in about the last 10 days. Were talking about a lot of hypotheticals here, greg. If in fact they can identify that object as a piece of debris from flight 370 they have to start to do math and calculate currents, dont they . Absolutely. They have to look at not only the sea state but the direction and, of course, wind. Those parts could have moved any direction and they probably moved not only hundreds of miles but thousands of miles over this 13 day period. Thanks very much. Tom, let me turn to you and talk about the size of these objects again. I will stand up for a second and go to the corner of the studio here. Were talking about an object about the length of from this side of the studio to the other corner over there. Whats your gut reaction . Well, its something, isnt it . Its an image taken from a satellite in seas using the best Radio Technology thats available. Youre not going to find something with the naked eye out there. The focus of the investigation has obviously narrowed. Thats important. And the area is its in accordance with fuel exhaustion if they were on a direct heading from their last known position. If they can get a ship out there, if they can get a plane to fly directly over one of these objects and get a closeup picture of it, they will know instantly. They will. Lets put it in privilege. Theyre flying a distance roughly equal from new york to denver. And then theyre doing their search and then they have to go back that distance again. You look at this map here, we know the plane took off from kuala lumpur and went up about and hour and made a left turn and then there were these two arcs where we might find it. Based on this location where this object is found, what does it tell you about the flight of 370 . Did it run out of fuel or was it ditched intentionally . The main thing for me as an aviator, there was no mayday call. Theres always time for a mayday call. There was either an intervention or the crew went rogue. Where this satellite has found this debris, its in accordance with fuel exhaustion graph. Its likely. You think this is a situation where someone took over that plane and it simply ran out of fuel . I think the people who are closest to the investigation think it is. Tom casey. Tom, thank you very much. And greg, as we mentioned, thank you as well. Clouds and rain are limiting the visibility of those search planes, al, what are the crews dealing with . Good news is we will see improvement in conditions. Were in the southern hemisphere. Generally in our hemisphere, winds around High Pressure in a clockwise direction, however, we have areas of High Pressure both here and here and those areas of High Pressure the counterclockwise flow of air around the wreckage. You can see High Pressure building around the wreckage site over the next 24 hours. Thats good news. Winds will start to die down. Right now, we think there is fog an also haze there. Lets look at the satellite imagery and show you exactly what theyre dealing with. A front did move through. Good news is that has cleared out. You can see light haze now, maybe fog Even Associated with this. As that High Pressure moves in, we will start to see clearing. That will mean better conditions, lower seas and that should really help the search going on. And they need all the help they can get. Al, thank you so much. This potential discovery is a hopeful sign the families of the passengers could at least be closer to finally finding out what happened to their loved one. Keir simmons is following this story from kuala lumpur this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Im told some relatives were given the news around 4 00 or 5 00 this morning. That is well over 12 hours ago. Heres the painful thing, savannah. Some relatives are crossing their fingers this is not the wreckage of flight 370. Others say they hope it is a sign of flight 370. They simply want to know what happened. Imagine at this tense time being a relative wanting news but not wanting it to be bad news. 8yearold ishas older brother was on flight 370. She plays while the world waits for news. A hug for her father bracing himself to be told his sons plane did crash into the ocean. Im not sure these objects are 370. Reporter his son is in his late 20s with a wife and child. His uncle says the family are prepared. We can accept everything. Reporter even the words . Yes. Because this belongs to god. Reporter and in preparation for news from the search and rescue teams, ambulances have been stationed outside the relatives homes in case some cannot cope. For how to, we are on standby. Reporter youre on standby. Yeah. Reporter on standby in case the worst possible news . Yes. Reporter counselors will help for now. They say relatives are hanging on every word, every new fact. And half hoping, half dreading what they might learn. Im also told some relatives are being asked what they want to travel to australia, perhaps a measure how seriously officials are taking it. These relatives who have waited so long for news, now they have to wait again to see whether this is the plane their relatives were on. Keir simmons in kuala lum cur. We want to bring in sara. Her companion was on flight 370 and shes been in beijing waiting for any word. Sarah, good morning. Its good to see you. Good evening, savannah. I can only imagine the range of emotions you must be feeling at this moment. Can you even put into words how you felt when you heard this news of potential debris in the indian ocean . I heard it must have been about 3 00 this afternoon, a friend called me with the information. I dont think ive stopped shaking since. We just finally settled into a normal routine of waiting, unhappy waiting, but at least, you know, we were going back to normal sleeping cycles and getting in and ive continued to teach at work. Now, this just throws it a all you know, all up in the air again. Have you heard anything from authorities, from airline authorities, from chinese officials about what may have been found off the coast of australia . A couple hours after i heard from my friends and saw it on the news, i did get a call from Malaysian Airlines, giving me an update. But the update contains just a small fraction of the information i had already seen on the press release that they had given out of australia. We saw the frustration so vividly, as some of the families who are dealing with what you are dealing with right now, this uncertainty. Have you felt that frustration . Do you feel youre getting the information you want and need from the authorities there . Ive had frustration, but honestly, my frustration is not with the authorities giving me information because i understand they can only give information that they have, right . So if they havent verified it, they shouldnt be giving to it me. But my frustration is really with the process. You know, my heart just totally goes out to a lot of these families, because, you know, i have a Strong Support Network around me. I have exposure to what these things all mean and i get ample access to good information. Im in high stress. So these poor people, especially the ones here in china who basically hear nothing because the news is also filtered for them and theyre all crammed together in this hotel i think we just lost sarah, who is a long time companion of phillip wood. Does that not put a fine point on the human story here after all the most important thing, all those souls on board who are lost and so many people waiting for word. Interesting to hear her say she doesnt fault the people for having information. You can only give information you have. Theres no question its a painful waiting time. Meantime, natalie is here with a look at some other stories making headlines, including tough new talk about the crisis in ukraine. Good morning, everyone. Germanys chancellor says she expects the European Union to impose more sanctions on russia following its decision to annex the crimea peninsula. President obama is ruling out the use of military in a dispute over ukraine. Nobody wants to trigger and actual war with russia because that would serve no ones interests. Today, First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in china for a week long visit along with her mother and daughter sasha and malia, who have traveled with her before and aides call it a Cultural Exchange and not political. And paying the record 1. 2 billion penalty by toyota, the head of the company is speaking out, comes after toyota hid information that caused defects of toyota and lexus vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly and resulted in injury and death. This morning, the head of toyota said recalls are good for car makers in the long term. Toyota ceo said the company is putting customers first. Interest rates expected to say low. Only for a while wednesday. Fed chair janet yellin said Interest Rates could remain low for a considerable time and then suggested six months and said it depends where the labor market is. Some analysts think rates may start going up before the summer of 2015. Five people are in custody in houston after police made a disturbing find finding more than 100 people held in squalid conditions in what appeared to be a human smuggling operation. Officials went to the home after a woman reported her children missing. A mans truck got stuck wednesday on railroad tracks. He and his passengers were able to get out in time, right before a Freight Train slammed into the trailer dragging it a quarter mile down the tracks. No one was hurt. The driver was cited for failure to obey a railroad crossing. March madness came early for an elderly bowler in pennsylvania. Ray did what most bowlers only dream of. He bold a perfect game, 300, nothing but strikes. 81 years old yes there you go, no doubt still celebrating his victory this morning. I think automatic of us combined couldnt even bowl a 300, is that right . Good for him, 81 years old. Fantastic. Absolutely. Al, first day of spring. Someones been doing a Little Spring cleaning. Thats right. I promised the end of the winter, it would be gone. The butterflies return from wherever. Good news is they had a place to land. Lets get to the weather. All righty. We have springtime temperatures returning. Right now 45 in d. C. , new york city, 26 in minneapolis, chicago, 32 degrees. Good news is we have a warmup coming. 60 degrees in d. C. Chicago, 49, denver, 69, dallas, 73 degrees. Todays weather, return flow of the clockwise flow of air in this hemisphere brings in the milder air into the northeast and plains. Thats good news. Bad news is a cold front will bring in much below normal temperatures and we are looking for reinforcing cold air as this High Pressure dives down. So, by the time we get to sunday, pittsburgh, youre at 38, 14 degrees below normal, 32 in chicago, 55 amendments, dallas, 57, 14 degrees below normal. With that cold air setting up, youd hate for a snowstorm to come around, wouldnt you . Come on. Well get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. With Priority Mail flat rate shipping. Whoohoo [ male announcer ] our priority has always been saving the day. Because our priority. Amazing [ male announcer ]. Is you the amazing spiderman 2 delivered by the United States postal service. 7 19. Good morning. You made it to thursday t work week is almost done and this is the First Official day of spring. Ushering in the new season just before 10 00 a. M. , 54 degrees right now in san francisco, its milder out there by about 5 to 10 degrees so you are going to notice the difference when you walk out the front door from 24 hours ago. Throughout this afternoon temperatures are going to climb into the upper 70s, were going to stay sunny all the way through the first weekend of spring, so tomorrow, saturday and sunday a touch cooler. At 7 30, well talk about what might happen. Okay. A good little tease there. Thanks very much. Socalled first four are now in the books. March madness begins in ernest today. Carson, a lot of people have brackets on the brain. They do. A lot of people have your face on the brain. Were getting a lot of chatter. Nice to hear that. I think they were getting used to the rough and tough. Were going to have final numbers the next half hour. Well have it for you. I request that he be called babyface for the rest off the day. Well work into that. Baby cheeks. Today and this time of the year, this is when Office Productivity comes into question. March madness today. Big basketball games happening. 64 games. Four in elimination. President obama did his brackets not so great but these brackets are tough. The last time the president got it right. He picked Michigan State to win it all. Last year it was North Carolina. The president picked that to, i back in 09, to win that in 09. Michigan state leading. This is in realtime and well see how this fluctuates. Send us your picks and we will reveal our bracket the next half hour and more on your baby cheeks. Good to know. Michigan state, anybody . Arizona Wichita State but coming up. Carson, thank you. Coming up, we go live to australia for more on this mornings potential break in the flight 370. And the scientists who found air france reveal the challenges of locating a plane at the bottom of the ocean. A new lead in the disappearance of Madeleine Mccann and theyre searching for a man who assaulted other young girls in portugal. Why is this only coming to light now . Well have the latest but first this is today on nbc. Other young coming up for you Science Behind all those basketb