what direction does the air flow aloft and why?

Question

I a attempting to help my friends son with his homework, but never learned this stuff when I was in school...HELP!!

Answer 1

Depends where in the world you are...if you are in the US, you are in the mid-lattitude westerlies...prevailing wind aloft is west to east...

Winds are due to unequal surface heating between the poles and the equator....Air in the US generally flows from the subtropical High to sub polar low, IE from the equator twords the pole...however the coriolis force bends that wind to the right in the northern hemisphere, creating westerly winds....thats kinda it in a nutshell