This is the terrifying moment a landspout tornado ripped through a rice field in Thailand.

Footage shows the twister swirling over a rice paddy amid overcast skies in northeastern Buriram province on June 30.

The whirling air column rose, curved, and snaked through the sky, connecting to storm clouds as lightning flashed and thunder roared across the fields.

According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, landspout tornadoes are a type of tornado that form from the ground up, unlike supercell tornadoes that form within thunderstorms and are general stronger.

The NSSL said: 'A landspout is a tornado with a narrow, rope-like condensation funnel that forms while the thunderstorm cloud is still growing and there is no rotating updraft - the spinning motion originates near the ground.'

Thailand and neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia are approaching their annual monsoon rainy season which sees soaring temperatures followed by powerful rain storms in the afternoon leading to widespread flash floods.