History Main / WeatherSavesTheDay

* ''Literature/WestOfEden''. In one battle the humans are able to escape their pursuers because it starts snowing, as the reptilian Yilanè have a lower tolerance for cold. The Yilanè withdraw allowing the humans to escape and [[FromACertainPointOfView both sides declare victory]].

* ''Literature/WestOfEden''. In one battle the humans are able to escape their pursuers because it starts snowing, as the reptilian Yilanè have a lower tolerance for cold.

* In ''Literature/WatershipDown'', when the protagonists are escaping from Efrafra, a storm breaks at just the right time to confuse the pursuing forces and give Bigwig's crew the time they need. "Your storm, Thlayli-rah. Use it."

--->'''Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo:''' That rain delay was the most important thing to happen to the Chicago Cubs in the past 100 years. I don't think there's any way we win the game without it.

* In the first issue of ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', a heavy downpour of rain ends up short-circuiting Robotnik's latest robot which was threatening to spread throughout the Great Forest.

* ''Series/QuantumLeap''. In "A Single Drop of Rain" Sam leaps into a travelling conman who claims to be a [[{{Rainmaking}} Rainmaker]]. He needs to save the town he's at (which is also the leapee's hometown) from a drought. After trying what he can do, he goes out into a field and yells at God. It works.

** However, both French propaganda of the time and Napoleon fanboys ever since have often blamed the weather alone. This is because they find it difficult to believe that Napoleon could make massive mistakes in military matters.

** On the other hand, both German propaganda of the time and Wehrmacht fanboys ever since have often blamed the weather alone. This is because they find it difficult to believe that the Wehrmacht could make such massive mistakes.

* The halt of Army Group Centre's march on Moscow in October 1941 was entirely due to them running out of fuel stockpiles in the area around Smolensk (where the offensive was launched from). Their loss of half of the remaining truck fleet to the ''Rasputitsa'' ('season of mud'/'season of no roads) which arrived in the days following that was entirely their fault, as they chose to try to advance through it despite knowing fine well (from both open-source meteorological surveys and previous experience in the region) that it would arrive at any time and that attempting to advance through it would wreck the trucks. Their loss of nine-tenths of the train fleet to bursting water pipes in their engine blocks was also their fault, as they tried to leave the retrofitting of their train engines for deep-subzero operations to the last minute so they could carry more fuel and ammunition to the front in that time. Their loss of most of their artillery pieces to burst hydraulic shock-absorbers and most of their machine guns to jamming was ''also'' due to their decision to put off shipping anti-freeze and deep-subzero lubricants until the last minute so they could ship more fuel and ammunition. Finally, the lack of winter clothing amongst their troops was partially due to the same last-minute-ness, but also because they reasoned that their troops could just steal most of what they needed from the natives.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season 3 episode [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E10Amends "Amends"]], Angel is about to commit {{Suicide By Sunlight}} when it suddenly starts to snow and the sun doesn't come up.

When done well it doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Connected to {{Weather of War}}, obviously. The opposite of HostileWeather. Similar to, but not the same as, EmpathicEnvironment, in which the weather augments the ''mood'' of the story; in this trope the weather facilitates the ''plot'' of the story. Can be an understated, even ambiguous form of DivineIntervention or MagicRealism. SubTrope of DeusExMachina, unless caused by other characters through WeatherManipulation, in which case it tends to be a subtrope of TheCavalry. Compare WeatherOfWar and ConvenientEclipse.

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** At the beginning of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. After days of the land being covered in darkness because of clouds put out from Mount Doom by Sauron, a wind arrives from the West, as per the page quote. Leads to a great CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Theoden. Could be DivineIntervention; this is hinted at but not stated.
** Foreshadowed a few pages earlier when Ghân-buri-Ghân says "Wind is changing!" and disappears into the bush. The wind [[spoiler:not only aided the charge of the Rohirrim by breaking up the Morgul-darkness, it literally brought redemption by bringing Aragorn's fleet to the battlefield in time to save the city]].

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* One contributing factor to the English victory at Agincourt was that recent rainfall had turned the battlefield into a morass of thick, sucking mud. This caused any unhorsed French knights (of which there were many, due to a combination of poor French tactics and English archery killing a lot of the horses) to be slowed considerably trying to travel through the mud in heavy armored boots. Meanwhile, the more lightly garbed English men-at-arms and archers could walk on top of the mud.

* WesternAnimationHeckleAndJeckle are consigned to making it rain when their wish upon a wishbone causes a lengthy drought ("The Rainmakers"). They succeed when a gang of clouds attack them. They receive a ticker tape parade (in the rain, of course) for their success.

* The Spanish Armada's 1588 invasion of England was partly thwarted by storms in the English Channel. The larger and lumbering Spanish ships, which were already damaged by the more manueverable English ships in the narrow channel, were blown off-course by the storms just after the sea battle. Some of the ships were beached as far away as Ireland. In reference to this stormy assistance, Queen Elizabeth I is supposed to have said, "God breathed, and they were scattered," or words to that effect.

-->-- ''Literature/{{The Lord of the Rings}}''

* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution might have ended with a British victory at the end of August 1776. After a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, Washington's army found itself trapped in Brooklyn Heights with the British in its front and the East River at its back. The British, who had complete command of the waters around New York, could have sailed some ships into the East River, cut off Washington's retreat, and forced Washington and his entire command to surrender. But fortunately for the Patriots, a violent "nor'easter" storm on August 29 prevented the British from sailing up the East River. And if that weren't enough, a dense fog on the night of August 29-30 covered the American retreat onto Manhattan Island. The evacuation of Brooklyn has been called "the Dunkirk of the American Revolution".

* Double subverted in WorldWarII: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings#Weather The weather conditions]] nearly prevented the D-Day landings. On the day of the invasion, however, the weather had improved just enough to make the landing possible.

* In a WhatCouldHaveBeen scenario for ''Film/TheWickerMan'', after reading the completed script, the studio wanted a change: a sudden thunderstorm to put out the burning Wicker Man, and save Howie's life at the last minute so that the movie could have a more positive ending. The scene was filmed as written.

* Probably the most famous cases took place in 13th century Japan in 1274 and 1281, when the Mongolians twice tried to conquer Japan and were driven away each time by a powerful typhoon. Said typhoons were seen as evidence that Japan was protected by the gods, and were named ''Kamikaze'', 'divine wind'.
** Archaeological evidence has suggested that the effects of the typhoons were enhanced by the poor quality of the hastily constructed Mongolian ships, as well as their strategy of tying their crafts together to reduce the chance of being boarded by the Japanese defenders. These decisions ensured that the ships were crushed against each other, rather than just scattered or capsized.

* The destruction of Napoleon's Grande Armee in Russia was chiefly due to Napoleon's lack of strategic vision regarding his men's food situation, with the weather acting as a catalyst to speed up his men's deaths through disease and exhaustion. Despite their best efforts to bring their own food - which accounted for up to 10% of all the food consumed during the campaign an unprecedentedly massive proportion - and scour sustenance from the countryside the simple fact was that the French could not afford to stay in Moscow for longer than a few days. In fact, depending on how one defines 'acceptable losses', one can make the argument that they could not have afforded to actually ''reach'' Moscow in the first place. Either way, the decision to retreat through the areas which they had picked clean of food and fodder on their way in condemned most of the Grand Armee to death. The severity of that year's winter was just the icing on top... if you'll pardon the pun.

* The halt of Army Group Centre's march on Moscow in October 1941 was entirely due to them running out of fuel stockpiles in the area around Smolensk (where the offensive was launched from). Their loss of half of the remaining truck fleet to the ''Rasputitsa'' ('season of mud'/'season of no roads) which arrived in the days following that was entirely their fault, as they chose to try to advance through it despite knowing fine well that that it could arrive at any time and that attempting to advance through it would wreck the trucks. Their loss of nine-tenths of the train fleet to bursting water pipes in their engine blocks was also their fault, as they tried to leave the retrofitting of their train engines for deep-subzero operations to the last minute so they could carry more fuel and ammunition to the front in that time. Their loss of most of their artillery pieces to burst hydraulic shock-absorbers and most of their machine guns to jamming was ''also'' due to their decision to put off shipping anti-freeze and deep-subzero lubricants until the last minute so they could ship more fuel and ammunition. Finally, the lack of winter clothing amongst their troops was partially due to the same last-minute-ness, but also because they reasoned that their troops could just steal most of what they needed from the natives.

* A very harsh winter has so far completely thwarted an invasion of Russia ''twice''. (Or at least was a major factor giving an advantage to the Russians.) The first time it was attempted by UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, the second time by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.

* In the movie ''Das Boot'', the U-boat is out of oxygen and needs to surface, where it will almost certainly be destroyed by Allied forces. But it surfaces to find a heavy rain storm that provides cover.

When done well it doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Connected to {{Weather of War}}, obviously. The opposite of Hostile Weather. Similar to, but not the same as, EmpathicEnvironment, in which the weather augments the ''mood'' of the story; in this trope the weather facilitates the ''plot'' of the story. Can be an understated, even ambiguous form of DivineIntervention or MagicRealism. SubTrope of DeusExMachina, unless caused by other characters through WeatherManipulation, in which case it tends to be a subtrope of TheCavalry. Compare WeatherOfWar and ConvenientEclipse.

* ''DragonBallGT'': Rage Shenron drains the remaining amount of electricity in the city, making his electric slime grow to a massive size, making him very difficult for Pan and Goku to escape from. Unfortunately for Rage Shenron, it begins to rain, inducing an explosive short circuit throughout his entire slime body. The Shadow Dragon tries in vain to scatter his electric slime again; this, however, proves impossible due to the slime's enormous surface area, which prevents Rage from taking shelter. Following the explosion of his slime body, Rage returns to his original size.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season 3 episode "Amends", Angel is about to commit {{Suicide By Sunlight}} when it suddenly starts to snow and the sun doesn't come up.

** In "Bart gets an A", Bart prays for a miracle to help him pass a test. The next morning, snow has fallen and school is canceled for the day, giving Bart extra time to study.
** Subverted in "Marge vs. The Monorail". Homer and much of Springfield are on a runaway solar-powered monorail when a solar eclipse causes the monorail to slow to a stop, but only lasts a few seconds and the monorail starts up again, not giving the people any time to escape.