I think weather magic is dangerous. There are witches who will disagree with me (everyone is entitled to their opinion), but I take a Babylonian view of the weather. I think we have to step back and look at the bigger picture.

The Babylonians understood something that we are only beginning to
re-learn: cycles. We know small cycles/circles like the Zodiac and the
Wheel of the Year, but there are grander cycles that are more difficult
to perceive - like that of a Great Year (the whole zodiac cycle, from
Age of Aquarius to Age of Pisces, then start all over again with Age of Aries) or the life cycle of a star, or that of a species. We only recently 'discovered' El Nino, and just in time or people would have been freaking out about Armageddon, Nostradamos and the millennium.

We're so lucky - we got a blue planet, a water world of infinite beauty and variety. So what did we do with this precious gift? Fouled its oceans, poisoned its air, strip-mined it, exploded atom bombs, burned down its rain forests, hunted gorgeous animals to extinction . . . we are fools. It's a wonder She has not sent us the way of dinosaurs.

I think Mother Earth does a great job of managing the weather, and we should just get the hell out of Her way. We humans understand so little - we've only just learned what damage we cause by erecting seawalls, damming rivers and containing forest fires. Oops, where are the salmon? She made things as they are for good reason. I think we should landscape but not terraform, because we're not seeing the forest for the trees. Stopping or changing the weather might interfere with her Ozone Layer Repair Program, or her bring-on-an-ice-age- to-end-global-warming move. We are too small to understand what She's up to, with no right to interfere.

If we knew how to control earthquakes, we would. We'd congratulate
ourselves on saving our asses (and our real estate), we'd think how
brilliant we are with our magic or our technology. But we'd be fools,
because controlling earthquakes would be a planet-busting move. Those tecton plates move for a reason, and if we don't like it we should stop living on top of Gaia's fault lines. If we can't take the floods we should move off her flood plains.

Climate is no more permanent than we are. The Sahara desert was once lush jungle, and probably will be again. Europe was once covered with ice, and likely will be again. Who are we to complain or interfere?
We're smart little mammals gifted with the ability to adapt. We survived whatever it was that got the dinosaurs. We have thumbs, and imagination. We can change. If we manage to alter climate or weather we might be missing the whole point - an opportunity to evolve.

Weather is not something that we can take personally. The godhead does not zap us with tornados or tidal waves when it is displeased with us. We're not that damn important, just another life form on the face of one particular planet. Storms are part of nature, and too bad for us if we get in their way. We see the Goddess as the Dark Mother when the weather threatens us, as the Good Mother when the sun shines and birds sing. But she is thesame Goddess in sunshine or in shadow, in earthquakes and in rainbows.

Let's move weather magic down to the local level. What if an uptown witch is trying to make it snow, while a downtown sorcerer is going for a heat wave? What if the wheat farmer needs rain while the bean farmer wants sunny weather - and they both have witches working on it for them. What's a planet to do?

Snow was something that I really missed when I lived in Egypt, where 'winter' is just the rainy season. I was very tempted to make it snow for my own gratification. I could feel the northern jet streams, sense their frigid air. It seemed to me that it would not have been difficult to draw one of them to me, to freeze the moist air and make it snow upon the Nile. But I resisted this temptation, because if I had been successful at it (no sure thing) I would have been responsible for spoiling the winter crops and possibly killing people and animals who live outdoors and have never experienced temperatures below freezing.

Responsibility is essential in weather magic. The state of Florida is burning as I write this, clearly in need of a collective rain dance. I think it's fine to use magic to divert an oncoming tornado from your town, or to blow a storm out to sea. Be reasonable. We can do as we will, so long as we harm none.

OK, enough ranting. I didn't realize how passionate I was about this
until I got going. I think it's all the mail I get from people who want to raise winds. Why? Wind spells were crucial to sailors back when they used sails, butwe've got engines now. Stopping clouds, raising mists and calling winds without good reason are a waste of magic. Surely we can think of better things to do, like saving the whales or healing the rain forest. Whales are wiser then we are.