Tropical Storm Gabrielle formed over the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday morning, becoming this year's seventh named storm. Fortunately for us, forecasters expect the system to curve away from the U.S. as it strengthens, a path that a majority of this year's six other named storms have followed, mercifully avoiding direct hits to land.

Three factors are to blame, or cheer. One, a strong vertical wind shear, which refers to a change in wind speed or direction with altitude. It has increased thanks to a cyclonic circulation in the mid-upper troposphere, which is the lowest region of the Earth’s atmosphere.

When Hurricane Erin explosively intensified in the Atlantic, the alarming part wasn’t solely how dangerous it had become as a Category 5 monster: It was also just how typical such an ultra-rapid rate of intensification has become.