Canterbury farmer films tornado touching down from tractor cab

RNZ's eyewitness footage shows a rotating funnel over farmland as thunder, lightning and hail reach the region.

Channel: RNZ Story of October 31, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of RNZ's most watched videos since yesterday, with 15,226 views.

‘That’s a f...... tornado’: Canterbury farmer films as severe weather rolls into region | RNZ

Through a tractor's windscreen, a dark funnel reaches the ground and begins kicking up debris. The farmer keeps filming, zooming across open paddocks as the tornado moves through the distance.

RNZ published the eyewitness footage from Canterbury, on the eastern side of New Zealand's South Island. The broadcaster reports that parts of the region were hit by thunder, lightning and hail late Thursday afternoon. The clip is dated 29 October.

The recording briefly turns towards the tractor's side window, showing the darkened sky, before returning to the funnel. Buildings and tree lines are visible in the distance as the farmer follows its movement with the camera.

The short clip drew about 15,000 views since yesterday, making it RNZ's most watched upload over that period among videos published in the past two days.

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Canterbury farmer films tornado touching down from tractor cab The full story on Trari: https://trari.com/en/story/rnznewzealand-22033/?from=kit

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The numbers

The Canterbury footage led viewing of RNZ's new uploads since yesterday.

subscribers

253,000

▲ 1,000 in the last 7 days

total views

151,236,004

views per day

180,669

typical day: 105,864

the video

views

17,660

likes

350

comments

31

days online

2

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

The Sydney Morning Herald…

270,000

The Globe and Mail

265,000

RTÉ News

255,000

RNZ

253,000

Washington Week PBS

247,000

Royal Exclusive

243,000

As of October 31, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.