We live at the bottom of an ocean! An ocean of Air!

The atmosphere extends from the surface of the earth to about 10 miles or less UP! Think about that: the radius of the Earth is about 4000 miles but the atmosphere is very thin, only ten miles thick.

The atmosphere is in constant motion mainly because of uneven heating from the Sun and the spin of the Earth. The motions in the atmosphere are very complex like water flowing in a turbulent stream with eddies and flow arounds and tumbling.

At our latitude of about 35 degrees North of the equator, the circulation of the atmosphere is generally from West to East, so weather systems move from WEST to East. This is mainly why we can change from rainy one day to sunny the next...the winds aloft carry the regions of different weather from West to East.