Actually the time gap between the unnatural winter in EoTW and the unnatural summer is pretty big. A whole winter passes between tGH and tDR so it's at least a year between the two unnatural season. What's more, unlike the winter the Bowl produced, the spring Rand brought was much more supernatural and unambiguously beneficial to humanity and the world. In the spread of hours or days at the most a year's worth of crops grew, the ecology returned to its natural course and no one drowned, say, in condensed spring thaw. The bowl was a supreme human achievement, the Eye-spring was nothing short of a miracle.



Robert Jordan said in one of his Q&A that Aginor and Balathamel found the eye by following the taint on Mat's dagger. Their unique state half in half out of the Bore let them see the Pattern from a godlike position.


Two central turning points in the early series that lead to many of the subsequent victories are the visit to Shadar Logoth in EotW and the visit to Rhuidean in tSR.

Shadar Logoth prevented the Horn from disappearing into the Blight, gave Mat his luck, enabled the Cleansing of Saidin, split the group so each would grow into their own, mostly Perrin through his meeting with the wolves and Rand's meeting with Elayne and Loial.

Rhuidean gave Mat his place in the Pattern, Rand the memories and credentials to lead the Aiel (and much more in all likelihood), it gave Moiraine and Aviendah the visions to guide them down the path to victory, the tool to capture Asmodean and turn him into a tutor.