I'm going to look at weather magic from two perspectives, the practical and the ethical, and finally, discuss alternatives. I will be assuming, for the sake of this discussion, that nature can, in theory, be manipulated, either by the magical ability of an individual, or by intervention by supernatural beings.
Weather in general, and storms in particular, are complex things that do not exist or function in a vacuum, nor is weather in one region isolated from that of other regions. Everything affects everything else. We've all heard of the Butterfly Effect, which postulates that the flapping of one butterfly's wings has cumulative effects that can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. A bit overly simplistic, but true in principle. Therefore any weather manipulation is going to affect more than just the immediate vicinity. If you magically stop the rain that's ruining your picnic, where is that storm going to go? Will the intensity of the storm increase and cause unforeseen damage if it's moved?
A typical storm has a lot of kinetic energy. See this encyclopedia article about the energy inherent in a storm. If you think that you have enough power to shift the incredible momentum inherent in a thunderstorm, why not try to nudge something smaller, like the path of your lawn sprinkler or the gentle breeze that's blowing a leaf across your driveway first? If you can't do that, you are out of your league when it comes to guaranteeing a sunny day for your softball game.
The alternative to envisioning yourself as a powerful weather mage is to posit a god or goddess who has the power to do the weather shifting for you. Any deity so proposed can be as powerful as you want to imagine. There is no arbitrary upper limit to god power. An omnipotent pantheon dweller should be able to clear the skies, or water your crops, or melt the snow or whatever you else you might need. The energy of the storm is negligible for such an entity. But in this scenario we still run up against the reality that weather systems are global, not local and the storm has to go somewhere.
Let's look at the ethics of magical (or divine) weather manipulation. Being that weather is global, stopping a tornado in your vicinity might mean that someone else gets it, or getting rain to water your crops if you're a farmer could result in someone else experiencing drought. What about if you really need the rain and you trust the deity of your choice to work it all out so that no one else gets hurt? I've addressed on a several occasions the ineffectiveness of prayer here, here, and here. You can follow those links, but they can be summarized as "prayer, i.e. the asking a deity to do or provide something, does not yield discernable results". So I guess we can theorize above the ethics of omnipotent being fixing the weather to your liking, but their track record is poor.
I'm very much a disbeliever in the belief that things were "meant to be". That it's raining today because of some divine game plan that stopping the rain would interfere in. So my objection to weather manipulation magic, even if an individual or group would have the ability to work it, is that it's almost always self-centered and ignorant. Self-centered because it takes into account only one's own interests and ignorant due to a lack of knowledge of the wider effects of the changes wrought. If you're a magical practitioner, my current opinion is that the magic should be worked on oneself.
Look, I don't care if you're Aleister Crowley or Jesus in a boat on the Sea of Galilee you don't have the metaphysical watts to change climate, i.e. the changes that need to be made to reverse drought conditions or seasonal flooding. For most people it's the immediate weather circumstances, affecting them personally that offers a target for change. What if, instead of attempting to stop the rain from ruining your outdoor event after it's already on its way, you work on being aware (magically or otherwise) of what the weather will be like and plan based on what the weather will be rather than expecting the weather to change for you? Hone your thinking skills (magically or otherwise) to know what to do when dangerous weather comes to you. Magically increase your reaction time and eliminate distractions so that you can safely navigate that slick road during a storm.
What more realistic? Magicking yourself or the entire weather system of our planet?
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