Over time weather is been looked to for meanings of sign to come or things that we are doing wrong. Throughout the middle ages the weather was seen as almost the punisher for doing by the land or to the environment. Nature was feared and looked at as if it would put you back in your place if you did wrong by the environment.
I believe that in todays time we are able to find answers in science and more of the why events happen, but during these times they did not have the technology available to provide the answers so they had to look in the beliefs and stories to find reasons and why these events would happen to their cities. If we had these view in society today maybe people would have more respect for the environment and the land and not as just an uncontrollable thing in our lives.