This week was AP test so I didn't get too much done but I was able to successfully create an array of the byte arrays. Instead of trying to create an array of the already made bitmaps, Mr. Christy mentioned that I could try typing the arrays themselves into the 2D array. This worked and I was able to create a for loop that loops through all the animations of the sunny gif. I haven't been able to implement it for the other animations, but I hope to do that in the coming days as this should make it a bit easier.
Here is a little example of how it's written:
const unsigned char PROGMEM THUNDERSTORM[][288] = {
{0xff, 0xfe, 0x1f, 0xfe}, {0xff, 0xfe, 0x1f, 0xfe}, {0xff, 0xfe, 0x1f, 0xfe},
{0xff, 0xfe, 0x1f, 0xfe}, {0xff, 0xfe, 0x1f, 0xfe}, {0xff, 0xfe, 0x1f, 0xfe},
{0xff, 0xfe, 0x1f, 0xfe}
};Only in the real code it's a lot longer.