It was on one of those mornings, common in early spring, when the year, fickle and changeable in its youth like all other created things, is undecided whether to step backward into winter or forward into summer. Charles Dickens
I don't know why people want to turn these rules into absolutes (never do this, always do that). That's not the way I've heard them—it's usually more a case of be careful not to do it too much, or only do it with good reason. Then of course, once somebody posts the pure black-and-white version other newcomers see it and think that's how it's actually worded. As for that excerpt, it isn't really just the weather. He does mention that it's early spring, and then he makes it intriguing and not at all a cliche. I think one of the main problems with starting a scene with the weather is that it's so easy fall into cliches. He also sets up a contrast—the weather is fickle and changeable, can't make up it's mind. This in inherently interesting. These kind of contrasts are what story is built on and hook a reader in.
It might even be doing more than that. I don't know which story it's from, but possibly the main character is also unable to decide, and not sure which way to step in his life. That's not necessarily what he's doing here, but it's pretty common for the setup to clue you in to what's going on in the character's life like that. Though it might not be the MC, maybe it's the society itself (knowing Dickens) or something else that's undecided. If any of these are true, then he's presenting a theme right at the beginning.
There's an article online about this. Maybe 10-25% of well known works open with weather of some sort.
