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behind one of the most iconic movie themes of all time announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening ancient history is facing an immediate and uncertain future tonight in one of the most cherished slices of america a wildfire roaring through parts of california s yosemite park, threatening hundreds of giant sequoias some more than 2,000 years old. tonight crews literally using a network of sprinklers to create humidity around the towering trees to give them a fighting chance. remarkable imagery revealing the spread and intensity of the fire, which doubled in size over the weekend. the fire fueled by the severe drought now affecting over 97% of california, along with extreme heat which is not just making things difficult in the west, but extending all the way to the gulf coast, leaving 36 million under heat alerts. miguel almaguer is in the fire zone tonight with late details. reporter: exploding in size again overnight, yosemite s washburn ....
Our team there on the ground the flames fueled by extreme heat tens of millions on alert from the west to the gulf coast al roker tracking it also tonight, the judge refusing to delay steve bannon s trial after the trump ally s about-face on testifying before the january 6th committee. why the justice department is casting doubts on his intentions the surprise moment at the white house. president biden touting the new bipartisan gun law why the father of a parkland shooting victim interrupted the speech and the new poll spelling trouble for the president, a striking number of democrats who don t want him to run again in 2024. the battle over abortion what the biden administration is telling hospitals they must do under federal law, even in states that ban it. caught on camera, gunshots ringing out at a little league game players and parents running for cover. and news tonight about the musical mind ....
Not one has been lost to this fire yet the blaze is roughly 25% contained. it remains an active threat tonight so by no means are we out of the woods. firefighters, though, here on the ground doing an incredible job. lester, back to you. hats off to them for that incredible work miguel, thank you. we are tracking that extreme heat that s been fueling those fires, scorching temperatures being felt by 36 million people from the west to the gulf coast. al roker joining us now. al, what are you watching lester, we will start out with the heat 36 million people from the pacific northwest all the way to the mississippi river valley for heat advisories, heat warnings tomorrow triple digit heat indexes from little rock, baton rouge, all the way to saint angelo it will last one more day. tonight 7 million people at risk for severe weather from chicago, illinois, all the way to detroit we re looking into tomorrow, moving into new england all the way into washington, d.c. for 17 million peo ....
Whether it becomes a tropical system or not, it will drop anywhere from three to five inches from louisiana all the way to the panhandle of florida. lester al roker, thank you. we ll turn to big development in the january 6th investigation. a judge today denying a request from steve bannon to delay his contempt trial after the trump insider made an about-face and said he was willing to testify. ali vitali is at the capitol. reporter: top trump ally steve bannon still in the legal crosshairs tonight after a judge ruled his willingness to testify before the house january 6 committee will not delay his trial fo contempt of congress it comes after that stunning reversal from bannon to cooperate with the very committee he had previously stonewalled and ridiculed. the j-6 committee is totally irrelevant. reporter: federal prosecutors arguing bannon s about-face over the weekend was little more to change the optics of his contempt on the eve of trial bannon has remained defiant whil ....
Weekend of severe and dangerous weather for tens of millions of people in the eastern third of the country al roker is following it all al, what are we in for? reporter: lester, here in austin yesterday 76, today 32 degrees with wind chills and wind gusts of over 30 miles per hour just part of this system that stretches all the way to the northeast. right now 130 million people are under some sort of winter weather advisory, warning, watch, or flood watch. we ve also got severe weather down to the south. 17 million people with the risk of nighttime deadly tornadoes this rain and snow already hitting the southeast. the snow up to the north. when all is said and done, we are talking about some places interior new york and new england upwards of a foot or more and heavy rain extends all the way down from the mid-atlantic into the southeast with the potential of flooding in the panhandle of florida. a rough next 24 hours. lester al roker, thank you. also tonight, gas ....