Martha Nelle Surratto age 12, of Shreveport, La., for her questions

Why do weather fronts start in the west's

Most of North America is in the path of the westerly winds, those prevailing winds which sweep clear around the globe from west to east. This does not mean that the winds cannot blow from any direction anywhere at all. But the prevailing movement of air, the air masses and the air fronts, is from the west.

Local storms and vast cyclone areas are forever building up and they bring with them winds from all directions, But these local disturbances tend to move along with the prevailing movement from the west. Hence, the weather you can expect next week is most likely building up right now far to the west. Some of the great cyclone storms ere strong enough to live while the westerly winds carry them clear around the globe.