Geography winds?

Question

In terms of prevailing winds and air pressure, explain why most
weather patterns in the United States begin in the west, yet most hurricanes affect only the eastern states. (Hint: Most hurricanes begin off the western coast of Africa.)

Given that the tropical region retains more heat energy than is
released to space, and the polar regions release more heat energy
than they receive, explain why the tropical region hasn't burned up and
the polar regions have not become increasingly colder.

Answer 1

because the prevailing wind goes west to east from the coast of africa (it actually goes round in a big circle, known as the trade winds, from africa to usa, from usa to europe to africa) and hurricanes form over sea, so they die out once they hit the east coast.

not sure about the second one, but thats probably to do with convection currents or something similar

Answer 2

Q1. The water's too cold north of the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula-->no hurricanes on the West Coast of the US. The trade winds south of the subtropical high pressure zone in the Atlantic Ocean drives weather in the tropics from east to west. (hint: most hurricanes do not begin off the western coast of Africa--only on average two per year do) North of the world's subtropical high pressure zones, the flow is west to east.

Q2. Heat in the tropics is transported poleward via the Hadley, Ferrel & Polar cells.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_circulation

Hope you get an A on this...