Clip of Joe Biden Claiming People Don't Say 'Tornado' Anymore Viewed 2M Times

A clip of President Joe Biden suggesting that people do not use the term "tornadoes" anymore has gone viral, and been viewed more than two million times online.

The footage was recorded at a press conference in New Jersey while the president was visiting the state and New York to witness the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida.

During the conference, Biden said FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell had just visited Mullica Hills and Wenonah after they were both "hit by the tornado" before making the remake about people no longer using the word.

Biden goes on to discuss other recent devastating weather incidents and tackling climate change.

"You know, the members of Congress know from their colleagues in Congress that, you know, the—what looks like a tornado—they don't call them that anymore—that hit the crops and wetlands in the middle of the country, in Iowa, in Nevada, and—I mean, it's just across the board," Biden said.

The clip of Biden suggesting people no longer use the phrase tornado anymore was first posted to Twitter by Charlie Spiering, the White House correspondent for the far-right news site Breitbart News.

Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean was one of those who suggested that Biden may have gotten mixed up with a derecho, a long-lived, straight-line wind storm, during the press conference.

In August 2020, a powerful derecho which traveled from southeast South Dakota to Ohio caused billions of dollars worth of damage, with Iowa one of the states which saw the most devastation from the storm.

It is unclear what event Biden was referring to in Nevada during the press conference.

"Yes, we still call them tornadoes," Dean tweeted while sharing the clip of Biden.

"He might be confusing them with derechos which can look like tornado damage. The Nevada thing threw me off as well."

Elsewhere at the conference, Biden said the entire country has been witnessing devastating weather as a result of climate change.

"For decades, scientists have warned ... weather would be more extreme and climate change was here, and we're living through it now. We don't have any more time," Biden said.

"I've been on the telephone or on the road an awful lot between California, Idaho, New Orleans—excuse me, not New Orleans—Louisiana, but in New Orleans—Mississippi and, you know, here.

"I mean, every part of the country—every part of the country is getting hit by extreme weather."

More than 60 people died in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands left without power after Hurricane Ida battered Louisiana on August 29, with winds speeds of up to 150 miles per hour.

The White House has been contacted for comment.