ever. >> it is a big deal. we have over 1400 months of records dating back to 1895. we look at a month of data. there's a lot of observations that go into that. >> reporter: in fact, the average temperature for this july was 77.6 degrees. that is 3.3 degrees hotter than the 20th century average. and that's just july. the biggest impact of all this heat is the drought. >> thirty-three years we've always had a crop. it's not looking good right now. >> reporter: more than half of the country experienced moderate to exceptional drought conditions at the end of july. that's up almost 7% from the month before. >> it is a large increase for any given month. you know, 7% of the country. that is a significant portion of the country. most of that has been driven by the warmer than average temperatures. >> reporter: heat and drought conditions set the perfect stage for wildfires. across the west and plains states, wildfires have ravaged the landscape and people's

lives. >> this is what's left of our house. it's dust and ash really. >> reporter: in july alone, more than 2 million acres burned nationwide. the heat impacts lakes and rivers, too. throughout the midwest, inland lakes with 80 degree plus temperatures are causing massive fish kills. what does it all mean? >> we could be looking at a new normal. the long-term temperature trend across the u.s. is increasing. >> reporter: a trend many americans may not want to think about warming up to. the white house has authorized an additional $30 million to help those in areas most affected by the drought. here in astoria, queens, until just a few moments ago, the quickest fix for all this would be a dip in the pool as this heat shows no signs of letting up. brian. >> rehema ellis starting us off from new york tonight. rehema, thanks. after a welcomed price plateau this summer of 2012, the

bad news is gas prices are on the rise again. a fire at a big refinery in northern california is about to make things a lot worse. our report from nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: in richmond, california, this week flames shot out of the chevron refinery damaging one of the nation's biggest supply points and forceing a dramatic jump at the pump. >> today it's $29, but we only put seven gallons in, so ouch. >> reporter: wholesale prices in california skyrocketed, up $0.24 in a day. prices at gas stations aren't far behind. >> it can ruin a vacation. >> today is probably better to buy gasoline than tomorrow. >> the major impact on consumers is going to be probably that they are going to have to adjust their spending in other ways to make up for this. >> am i going to drive? >> reporter: while the national average is $3.65, in california prices are at $3.87. connecticut is seeing $3.90. illinois tops the nation at

$4.04, in large part due to a ruptured pipeline from wisconsin to chicago late last month. >> every year there's new surprises with gasoline prices. it seems like there's always some other curveball that happens. >> reporter: the curveball, brian, that could put a damper on a lot of summer fun for drivers here in los angeles, you can see the prices are already $4.05. analysts say it could go up another $0.25 or more by labor day. >> kristen dahlgren in l.a. for us tonight. kristen, thanks. some news out of suburban milwaukee where that gunman opened fire sunday in the sikh temple. today fbi investigators said wade page killed himself, took his own life with his own weapon at the scene after being first taken down by a shot to the stomach from police. this contradicts an earlier report about how he died. in syria tonight things are looking dire for the rebels trying to hang onto that key city under siege. the city of aleppo, the largest in the country.

civilians are now being warned to evacuate as the army advances. again tonight our report from chief foreign correspondent richard engel along the syria/turkey border. >> reporter: good evening, brian. syrian rebels appear to be losing the city of aleppo. that comes as no surprise. for days rebel leaders have been telling us without an immediate influx of ammunition, in particular, the rebels could not continue to fight in the city and would have to withdraw. now that seems to be happening. today syrian troops push deeper into aleppo, even taking over the neighborhood of salahadin. it had been the rebels stronghold in aleppo. what's happening in aleppo is significant in the broader context of the war. every time the rebels have taken on the vastly superior syrian military, they have lost. when rebels tried to make a stand in damascus, they couldn't hold the city.

when they tried to make a stand in aleppo, the same results. the big question now, brian, is what the syrian army will do next. syrian troops brought in about 20,000 soldiers for its offensive against aleppo. those 20,000 soldiers are still there, still in the area. many syrians want to know where they will go next, where the next offensive will be. brian. >> richard engel on the syria/turkey border. richard, thanks. now to presidential politics. president obama campaigned in colorado today, a state where a new poll shows him trailing mitt romney, but he's trying to make up some ground by hitting at what has been a romney weak spot, and that support among women. a report from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: at a denver rally today, the president was surrounded by his most reliable support group, women voters and taking direct aim at mitt romney. >> they want to take us back to

the policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century. >> reporter: playing a starring role for the first time on the campaign, the former law student who became a lightning rod after rush limbaugh denounced her for supporting contraception rights. >> miss fluke and the rest of your feminine nazis, here is the deal. >> for me it's been intensely personal. >> reporter: women, especially single women, supported the president overwhelmingly in 2008. an nbc "wall street journal" poll, they favor him by 25 points, nearly three times the advantage he has with married women. but the economy hit young single women harder than married women. the obama campaign worries they may stay home this year. it's flooding them with messages, tv ads, social media, celebrity appearances. >> they are a critical group of voters both campaigns clearly see as a real battleground, far beyond any individual state. >> the target, undecided young women, like this woman in winter springs, florida, who voted for john mccain but is now leaning toward obama.

>> i'm definitely looking for a candidate that supports my views in my reproductive health. >> mitt romney, who campaigned in iowa today, is targeting older married women where he's more competitive. today announcing the women for mitt coalition led by his wife ann. >> this is what i hear women talking about. they are talking about jobs, talking about the economy. >> romney advise blame rick santorum's position on women's health in the primary for the gender gap there, a gap they are trying to overcome. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. now to the games here in london. the focus today on the track and in the sand where the u.s. was guaranteed a gold medal in women's beach volleyball tonight because the final was one u.s. team versus the other. as we send you over to kevin tibbles, who has been covering all of it across town at olympic park, our standard spoiler alert warning applies, the following two minutes of reporting contains results. kevin, with that hand-off, take it away.

>> reporter: well, brian, they have never lost at the olympics, not even one match, and tonight was no different for the queens of the beach. tonight on the california beach where kerri walsh-jennings and misty may-treanor honed their skills, it was game on. while at the picturesque horse guard parade in london, the reigning champs dominated fellow country women april ross and jenn kessy from start to finish. the third straight olympic gold for the queens of the beach. >> tonight we're going to celebrate this amazing win. we went out on top. >> reporter: handshakes and hugs all around. not so in the women's 100 meters last night. medalist dawn harper and kellie wells let it be known they were not amused with the attention shown teammate and cover girl lolo jones. >> that hurt. it did. it hurt my feelings. >> jones finished out of the medals in fourth. >> the three girls that earned their spot and got their medals

and worked hard and did what they needed to do prevailed, and that's all that needs to be said. >> wow, cut the tension in here with a knife. >> just this week jones' athletic abilities were also criticized in the media suggesting she wouldn't be able to live up to the hype. >> i work six days a week, every day for four years for a 12-second race. the fact that they just tore me apart, it was just heartbreaking. >> reporter: tonight after coming up short in athens and beijing, allyson felix finally won the gold in the 200 meters. sometimes when you win gold you let loose, like germany's robert harding in the discus. he tore off his shirt. >> the incredible hulk. >> the incredible hulk. >> the hulk took off down the track, clearing all the hurdles. and it was a very good day at the olympics for the united states. team usa won 10 medals, including four gold and now leads china on the medal board. brian, that german discus thrower may want to do the

hurdles but i suggest he doesn't want to go up against usain bolt. >> i was going to say i'll have what he's having. kevin tibbles from olympic park. kevin, thanks. still ahead as we continue from london tonight, one u.s. athlete's long journey to follow the american team. she did it, and now she's trying to do the same for her own mother. later, all in a day's work, the secretary of state tearing up the dance floor.

we're back from london with one of the many inspiring stories of what it took for so many of these olympic athletes who are here to just get here. one of them is an american woman who made her debut on the mat here today, a 25-year-old wrestler, who had the strength and the nerve to pick up the first lady when she visited with team usa. tonight the story of her journey, her dream, and now her

quest to help her mother's dream come true as well. here is nbc's anne thompson. >> reporter: elena pirozhkova's journey to the olympics is an odyssey of oppression and hardship. >> i've been through a lot of situations where i've had to maybe like prove myself. >> reporter: toughness forged striving for her american dream. she started wrestling at the urging of her older brother joining the boys team at her greenfield, massachusetts, high school. recruited to train in colorado springs, america's best wrestler spent seven long years 2,000 miles from the family she loved. >> kind of always brings me back to earth, like where i came from and what my family has been through, the kind of stuff my mom endured. >> her mom tatyana and father sergey met and married in sibera. pentecostal christians they were persecuted for their faith and fled the soviet union at the collapse.

>> i had the baby in six months. on the other hand i had elena at three years old. that's all i have in my hand. >> reporter: with her husband and two other children, they set off on a seven-month journey to the u.s. to become an american family with a russian accent. growing to nine children and struggling. >> i started throwing newspapers in fourth grade because my mother told me i needed to help. >> sergey did odd-jobs. tatyana to this day holds down two, working at a local food bank and with the elderly. finally they bought a piece of land, their piece of america. land sergey left to elena when he died last year. elena knows her father would have been proud she made the u.s. olympic team. she and her sister sold t-shirts this summer so the family could all go to london. with the opportunity to compete and a little bit of land farm, elena's american dream is almost realized.

there's just one more thing. and it's not for her. >> what i really want for my mom is i want to buy a house. it's something they always dreamed about, both my mom and my dad, when they moved to america. >> hopes merging on a mat in london. >> it's like my olympic dream. it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for them, too, to be part of something like this. >> reporter: all she and her family needed was the chance. anne thompson, nbc news, greenfield, massachusetts. >> that's just one of the amazing athletes here for these games. up next from london, we have new pictures from mars and news about the first man on the moon. must be nice, cheering on team usa from the shallow end.

back in '08, we didn't have these u-verse wireless receivers that let you move the tv around wherever. no siree, bob. who's bob? and if you didn't have a tv outlet, well then you couldn't watch diddly-squat. you talk a lot. you have no idea how good you have it. that's not working. [ grunts ] [ male announcer ] the wireless receiver, only from at&t. get a free wireless receiver with a qualifying u-verse plan. rethink possible. i wanted to let you know we're keeping an eye on a cluster of minor quakes in california. they had a four five today following an earlier four five. in the trade it's called a

doubler. there's now been 30 minor earthquakes in the last few days. though seismologists say it's still in the normal category for california. no serious damage or injuries reported. some frivolity but also seriousness during secretary of state clinton's visit to south africa this week. first of all, she's been dancing up a storm. probably a welcomed release in an exhausting job. at the latest celebration last night, the beat got intense and some near grinding broke out. the kind of thing dean acheson could only dream about in his day. later, though, at a speech at the university at the western cape, she talked about the strength she received from nelson mandel ark, back when she was first lady and the clintons were under daily attack. she said, quote, i was beginning to get pretty hard inside. i was beginning to think, who do they think they are. what can i do to get even, close quote. she talked about mandela's lesson of shedding bitterness and working toward reconciliation.

well, the images are now starting to roll in from the new mars rover curiosity, including a stop action video of the jettisoned heat shield as the rover separated and headed toward landing. we got the first high-resolution still pictures as well today showing its new home. and at the nasa briefing today, they called the surroundings earth-like and admitted it looks like the mojave desert for all you conspiracy theorists. other photos show the first panoramic view, the granularity of the soil, a close-up, and a self-portrait of curiosity as shot by the camera on a mast above it. speaking of space, we want to wish neil armstrong a speedy recovery from quadruple bypass surgery. first man on the moon just turned 82. he evidently flunked a stress test at the hospital a few days back, and his doc thought it best to clear four different blockages. his wife carol reports her genuine american hero husband

is, quote, doing great. up next from london tonight, good sports, the character we have witnessed alongside the competition here.

finally tonight the lesson of these olympics. all these athletes training for four years often for a fleeting moment of competition. to be blunt, if you watch only certain pro sports in america, it can often seem like it's much more about the money and the agents and the endorsements. we have seen astounding acts of sportsmanship during these games. as chris jansing is all too happy to show us tonight, we're happy to report it is alive and well. >> reporter: there are many kinds of victories at an olympic game, a point well scored. a trick well performed. a race well run. the medals won. but there is a quieter kind of try up here, too, of a player in victory consoling the seemingly inconsolable opponent. of competitors living the olympic ideals. like jordyn wieber, when the favorite to be all around

gymnastics champion shockingly failed to qualify for the finals, she ceded the spotlight with grace, celebrating when gabby douglas won gold. it was hard not to cheer from the rower from niger. the olympian named the sculling sloth finished last but he had only been training three months on a fishing dinghy. it's the kind of sportsmanship sebastian treasured as an olympian and hopes for as an organizer. >> i think it's a fantastic opportunity for all our nations to start celebrating the things we hold dear. the priceless, the irreplaceable. >> reporter: the courage of china's national hero, lu xiang. he failed to clear a single hurdle, but hopping on one leg in pain symbolically finished the race, helped by runners from britain and spain. grenada's first ever gold grenada's first ever gold medalist kirani james helped us all feel good exchanging name tags with the first amputee ever

in the olympics, oscar pistorius. >> this is how much it means to olympic athletes. >> it's what olympic movement is about. he's such a true sportsman. >> reporter: the fastest man alive showed he could take his time, too, pausing during a tv interview out of respect to u.s. gold medalist sanya richards-ross and the national anthem. >> the great thing about the olympic movement of olympic sport is it's actually a metaphor for life. it's about hard work. it's about diligence. it's about great coaching. it's about friendship and respect. >> reporter: it's about the promise in the olympic oath, pledging competition for the glory of sports and the honor of our team. and there is the upholding of the olympic ideals off the field of play. just for an example, swimmer

dana vollmer, she found out there's a hospital near where she's staying in london and today brought her three gold medals along as she visited patients there. brian. >> that's what we love to see about the games. chris, thank you as always. that is our broadcast on wednesday night. thank you for being with us. a reminder, olympic coverage in prime time starting at 8:00, 7:00 central. i'm brian williams, reporting again tonight from london. we, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow good night. right now at 6:00, rattled nerves across the east bay after a flare-up at one of the east bay refineries and a false alarm at another. and the south bay businessman at the center of a high-profile murder. and it's the largest donation in southern california history but the donor remains a mystery. and what the wind fall will be used for. good evening and thank you for joining us.

tonight thousands of residents in contra costa county remain on edge after another flare-up at the chevron refinery in richmond. another fire reignited in the same area where monday night's fire occurreded. meanwhile another east bay community had a scary as they were told to shelter in place. that warning ended up being a false alarm. but that leaves many wondering if the warning system even works. >> reporter: chevron is announcing new steps it is taking tonight to provide some relief to those impacted by monday's fire. meanwhile, another east bay refinery is also issuing an apology tonight after sounding a false alarm. >> i was going to get in the car and run. that was my first thought. flight with my kids and get them safe out of here.

>> reporter: that's what was going through anna's mind when she heard sirens sounding this morning from the shell martinez refinery, just down the street from her home. with images of richmond's fire still fresh, she panicked. >> it was tonight only one out front in my pajamas this morning in my neighborhood. think it's ridiculous. >> reporter: turns out the warnings were just a mistake. turns out a worker activated by the entire community warning system over a misunderstanding over a minor situation. >> it was a mistake, we apologized for it and we'll work at addressing it so that it doesn't happen again. >> reporter: the head of contra costa county's community warning system says her office has definitely gotten a workout this week. they're working on ways to improve the system and they're urging citizens to sign up for alerts.