I know that weather effects are character based, that is the character sees the weather which does not really cover the visible terrain. The character just "sees " through some rain, snow, or fog through local camera effects. But in all that is holy, this is a RPG. If it is raining, we want people to experience scene raining and they do. Why ruin it and not water all exposed plants during every rainstorm. Let's keep the RPG believable!!