By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer
DENVER (AP) — Experts say a natural La Nina weather pattern, unusually warm moist air juiced by climate change, and long-term shift in where tornadoes hit all are factors in Thursday’s devastating tornado in Alabama. Meteorologists say La Nina changes the jet stream so storm patterns are more favorable. But those patterns need moisture. Alabama Thursday was twice as moist as it normally was. That moist air was thanks to a Gulf of Mexico that was hotter than normal. Add in the mix that tornadoes are forming more often in the East and less in the Great Plains. There are more people and more poverty where the tornadoes now hit.
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