Now I was reading the scene in A Crown of Swords (Chapter 13 - The Bowl of the Winds) when Elayne and Nynaeve were bargaining with the Sea Folk to get the Windfinders to help with the Bowl of the Winds. The Windfinders seem to be better at weather control than either the Aes Sedai or the Wise Ones. This reminded me of Moiraine's statement in either The Eye of the World or The Great Hunt that in the Age of Legends female Aes Sedai were on average better at Water and Air, weaves essential to weather control, and males were better with Fire and Earth. At the end of Lord of Chaos the Asha'man make rings of exploding earth to kill/disperse the Shaido. This would seem to indicate that the old saying has some truth to it. It also makes me wonder which weaves are in balefire. My bet is that some Spirit is involved. That could be why actual threads of the Pattern are burned out.