It was "perfect conditions" for a rare tornado to form over a Mid Canterbury farm yesterday according to 1 NEWS weather presenter Dan Corbett.
The giant twister tipped over tractors, irrigation equipment and missed farmer Randal Harnahan's family home by just metres.
Corbett explains exactly what caused the destructive terror using augmented reality in the video above.
Christchurch family's scary encounter
A Christchurch family of four filmed as the tornado travelled alongside their car on their way back home from a long weekend.
Richard and Alesha Plew said their two children, aged nine and six, were so scared they thought they were going to get sucked into the massive twister.
The family, who had just driven through 15 minutes of "ice cube"-sized hail in Ashburton, were talking about the damage to their car’s paintwork when they looked up and saw the twister a couple of fields away.
With Ms Plew filming, the pair said their children were "really scared".
But the couple said the tornado was not a threat to them.
"It was quite slow moving," Ms Plew explained. "We drove through the outer bits of it but it didn’t feel like it was pulling us up or anything - it wasn’t that strong."
Mr Plew added: "It was quite awe inspiring as it was quite huge."
"I said to the kids it was once-in-a-lifetime experience and they were fairly lucky to experience it."
The family, which had just spent the weekend in Ohau, said the hailstorm caused the most damage to their vehicle on their journey home.
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