Also, if the moon is up, forget it. Our nearest celestial neighbor acts like a giant spotlight in the sky, washing out most of the available meteors. Still, from dark, rural locations on any given moonless night, you might see 5-10 meteors every hour. Because Earth takes a year to make one solar circuit, our planet passes through the same debris trail at the same time every year. At the peak of a shower like the Perseids, when Earth is passing through the thickest part of the cloud, as many as 100 streaks per hour may be visible.
Earth plows through the debris trail as it travels through space.
It also turns on its axis once per day. For the best view, you have to wait until your part of the Earth turns into the direction of its travel around the sun. If you're on the trailing side of Earth's path, you won't see many meteors. Motorcyclists know what I mean. You're going to get a lot more bugs in your face if you're facing forward on the motorcycle than if you're sitting backward.