The most basic facts about the Earth's structure is that it is a sphere, and is tilted about 23.5 degrees; this is what causes the uneven heating on this Earth. When it's warm and sunny here in Massachusetts, Australia might be more chilly, and the spiders may seek refuge in the warm homes of those living there. In the tropics, it is humid, and up in the poles it's freezing and bitter. This is the effect of the rays from the sun; some parts of the Earth they are always directly on there, and on other areas of the Earth the sunlight rays are angled, making them not as strong, as therefore not very warm. This, I learned from the Global Wind Patterns activity from class this week.
The movement of the wind and water is effected by the Earth's rotation. Case in point, The Coriolis Effect, is the turning of winds, as it happens from the Earth's rotation on its axis. This was demonstrated in an activity done in class, in which one person spun a circular piece of paper on a nail, and another person dropped a bit of water on the paper, and the water moved everywhere, making this symbol.
There are differences within the global wind patterns. In 60-90 there are the Polar Easterlies, blowing from east to north. From north to west are the Westerlies in 30-60 degrees. Horse latitudes are at 30 degrees, where Westerlies and trade winds meet. The Horse latitudes are where some of the deserts are.
Image taken from http://galacticconnection.com/shifting-jet-stream-causing-conversion-of-weather-pattern/
