Glenn Beck, the weather on 8-28, and God

Glenn Beck has repeatedly attributed the sunny 80+ degree weather forecast for his 8-28 rally in Washington, D.C., to God. Today, he even called it a “miracle,” saying that Washington is usually a “swamp” in August. Beck also said “thank you” while casting his gaze upward.

While I have no desire to get into the theological issue of what is, and is not, attributable to God, I do want to point out that the weather forecast for D.C. on August 28 is pretty close to the historical average, and therefore seems unlikely to be the result of a miracle.

Beck said that the weather forecast for D.C. is “82 degrees” and sunny. Incidentally, I'm not sure who Beck's forecaster is. The Weather Channel forecasts a high of 86 degrees for August 28, as does Fox News, and the National Weather Service forecasts 88 degrees.

So, depending on who you listen to, the temperature is forecast to be somewhere between 82 and 88 degrees.

But get this: the average temperature for August 28 in Washington, D.C., is 84 degrees with average precipitation of 0.1 inches.

So, the big miracle turns out to be that the temperature is forecast to be two degrees lower than normal if Beck's forecast is right (or perhaps four degrees higher than normal if the National Weather Service is right) and no rain is forecast.

It's almost as big a deal as parting the Red Sea.