Lightning in Super Slow Motion 

"The sky reaches for the earth. And the earth responds 'here I am'"

Seeing it "search" like that while in the cloud is creepy. I always assumed lighting is a single bolt. Seeing it wiggile like that freaks me out a bit

Imagine if the step leader was that slow in real life while the actual discharge was still at a blinding flash of speed. It would be beautiful

Lightning is the most amazing and scary thing there is. There is no other discharge with such power and voltage levels.

You really can't enjoy watching a storm without the lightning, at sunset during a summer storm watching the lightning light up the inside of the clouds, better than any fireworks show

That explains why you get the buzzing feeling when there’s about to be a strike near you. If you are outside in a storm and feel that “static” feeling there’s about to be a hit near you.

The Fact that this was 11 Years ago Really shows how Advanced We’ve Become Since. Now things Like Recording Slo-Mo Lightning can be Done on a Phone!

The feelers that come out of the ground, looking to connect with the bolt, are to me the most amazing thing. Because I doubt many of us not in this field of work, were aware that this is how lightning makes contact with objects on the ground or in the sky. It was awesome to see several of them still sticking out of the ground, even after the lightning from the cloud had already made a connection. They looked Almost like electrical garden eels!! Amazing!!

A lightening strike at a distance is most beautiful when seen from the air. As I returned from a cross country flight done as part of private pilot training and my home rural airfield and its pattern were in sight I saw a strike from a cloud to the ground in the distance. It was clear enough that I could see the entire bolt and it was one of the most impressive phenomena I have had the pleasure of seeing while doing light plane flying.

The "step leader" looks like an algorithm to find the ground

0:06 now I know from where dragon Ball Z got those mega kick sounds.

Funfact: *If the lighting is going to strike you then you will get goosebumps and every hair on your will stand before it hits you.* This happened to me once while I was in a car.Thankfully it hit a few meters away from me

The way the lightning "investigates" the path to the ground seems almost sentient.

I never knew or heard of the positive streamers lightning makes from the ground.

Lighting, though pretty common, always amazes me. The step leaders phenomenon is just astonishing. Seeing charges grow out of the tops of trees and telephone poles, as if saying, “here, over here! Choose me!”

The best lightning show I ever saw was on a plane flying high above the clouds over the Pacific in the inky black night looking down on a reticulate network of charged fractals crisscrossing across my entire field of view.

I remember watching this series as a kid and being fascinated by all the stuff our planet is capable of. Volcanoes, Hurricanes, Lightning, Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Floods... those are the VHS tapes I had...

And I watched it at .25x speed to get extra super slow motion🙃

It's 11 years later and I still find these recordings fascinating..!

I love how discovery channels have the sheer power to just turn almost anything into a horror film This is just.....beautifully terrifying ♡

Incredible. Looks just like blood viens, nervous system, plants roots, ect. As above, SO below.

I had a positive streamer come up through me once. The brilliant blue flowed out of my hand and into a truck I was next to. Every muscle in that arm contracted instantly and painfully. The main bolt arced over head and hit the ground. I told the ER physician how lucky I felt to have survived and for a split second was PLASMA MAN!

It's amazing, how branched out lightning really is, though we usually only notice the single bolt.

Nikon be like : “Yeah, that's our cam”

Now, the super rare ground to cloud strikes are captured on video. I find those even more fascinating. Planetary scale voltage adjustment taking place.

2:33 You didn't wipe the third camera. Don't you love it?

Anyone else in awe of this work of nature? It literally looks like tree roots. Nature is in tune with itself. That’s how I wanna be.

Not gonna lie, that “rare photograph” looks a lot like an anime battle

And that, friends, is why you don't stand under a tree in lightning.

I remember seeing this on cable. It made me love lightning even terrifying as it can be.

It intrigues me how something that sounds so petrifying and is so destructive in nature can appear to be so ethereal. A very beautiful phenomenon.

I hope the algorithm never stops recommending this to me

What I've seen working outdoors is lightning DOES NOT always strike the tallest object. It picks the best path, and many times multiple paths, to ground! Beautiful but lethal and scary at the same time!

God it's so beautiful. I can totally see how our ancestors thought it was the Gods I mean how else can you explain such beauty and endless power

Absolutely fascinating, like to see what they can do with the cameras now. ✌🏽✨

Everyone gangsta until a skyscraper-tall-big-ass muscular man pops up after the lightning strikes the ground

talking about frequency, Tesla had that suspicion 100 years ago. Glad we figured it out now.

That dude had slow-mo camera 9 years back.. *The Slow mo guys* left the chat

The thought of a person trying to capture lightning in high speed... Have to thank you for that! And the knowledge gained from the footage... invaluable

My father, the physicist, and I politely argued as to which direction lightning travelled from sky-to-ground or ground-to-sky. It was years later when we found we were both correct.

2:44 begins the money shots.

Seeing the stepped leader climb down out of the cloud was almost therapeutic to watch. Such a beautiful scene! The music to accompany it was fantastic too! Even the sound of the thunder in slow motion was surprisingly nice to listen to.

That was just BEAUTIFUL!! Better than fireworks imo

Super slow and the lightning is still quick

Hood: "Chief, mind telling me why you're on TV?" Chief: "Sir, watching lightning in slow motion."

I Was Struck By Lightning. Thanks.

it's kind of crazy just *how far* digital tech (including cameras) has come in just the last 20 years or so

When you film at night with a GoPro and lightning strikes, the still photo just looks like you took a photo during the day.

RU-vid recommendations brought me here. After 9 years.

Even lightnings search a counterpart to love! Such a beautiful video about one of the rawest, sheerest, awe inspiring and most terrifying natural phenomena!

Thank goodness these advancements in technology make it possible to see this breathtaking 480p

the good stuff starts from 2:45

This is bloody amazing, the slow motion video of the step leader finding a charged area, and watching the pulses was amazing

Wow this is the most fascinating thing I have found out about lightning!!! It is simply amazing how a surge of electrons can chose which pathway to take like that... That step leader is extremely mind-blowing! And the existence of positive receiver bolts from the ground have also shocked me!!!

Thank you RU-vid algorithm for recommending this to me after 11 years

Funny I remember experts were saying that lightning started from the ground upwards and this video just proved that it indeed does not do that. What a great video, I actually learned a lot, much more than school or anywhere else lol.

2:44 that is just about the coolest thing ever ._.

I love this Early 2000s looking quality 👍 Reminds me of 90s Disney Channel programs!

I want to see more of this. Awesome!

Happy New Year!!! Almost 11 years old and the is vid still amazes and educates!

2:47 OHH it's like a race...who ever gets to the ground first.....WINS

I could have watched an hour of this. Amazing, thanks!

RU-vid 11 years later "yes this is exactly when this should be watched"

Whenever I hear this particular narrator's voice, I know I am about to learn something interesting.

I have loved lightning since I was a child-----some of my most happy moments were a night walking in the rain looking at the lightning-----the thunder used to frighten me---now at 80- years----I enjoy the lightning as well

That's amazing! Looks alot like how slime molds grow. Both branch out looking for what they need, either food or a grounding point respectively, then take the path of least resistance once it's found.

Woh! thank you RU-vid algorithm for recommending me this legendary video.

This lightning proves how much farther cameras need to be improved at capturing more frames per second. Good find.

Use me as the “If only this were in a higher resolution” button

Grew up in Yuma, Arizona. The lighting storms were so captivating to me as a child.

Simply awesome! Lightning is amazing, but yet, so powerful.

It’s just amazing that kind of power and charge exists within our atmosphere and all around us. The sky and clouds meet to form this larger than life electrical connection.

Survivors of lightning strikes are walking miracles. After seeing this, I'm convinced that it is nothing short of a miracle.

That's amazing and about as close to lightning I care to be! Thank you for sharing.

There was one lighting strike that really shook me. I was cleaning up after dinner at our terrace and it was a bit stormy. While wiping the table, I look out in the distance thinking about things and suddenly, a great lightning with tens of strands dropped in the horizon, it was as if it was in slow motion because of my amazement in its beauty.

I saw this in real life a while back. I was standing on my front porch watching a storm and lightning happened to strike my neighbors fence right in the center of my field of vision. I saw a thin branch of lightning from the ground to the end of my field of vision, then the next instant it was as thick as a tree trunk and i almost jumped through my screen door.

Beautiful phenomenon captured by the eye of the beholder...

Now i understand why being in a high place has the highest chance of getting hit by lightning

Damn.. 11 years ago... still getting recommended. I mean I'm not complaining this is cool

Those positive streamers are interesting

Seeing lightning like that makes me think that this is just God playing Snake looking for apples.

The Slow Mo Guys went to Singapore to record lightning with ultra-high speed cameras a few years back. Their channel is well worth seeking out.

I have been close enough to a lighting bolt strike to not only hear the "sizzle" sound like eggs frying in a pan, but also see the bolt is not a continuous arc, instead it was a string of "sausages" - small individual separate arcs a few to several feet long, with a gap between them. My Dad had a cousin in the early 1900s, she was riding a horse in a thunderstorm, got hit, burned a hole through her hat, she survived, the horse died. After that, really strange, mosquitoes never bothered her anymore, but bit everybody else in the group. I have seen ground to air lighting, of course the air to air and air to ground is the most common. I have seen winter lightning in a snow storm blizzard; and lightning when NO clouds around, clear skies. I have been in a house when lightning struck it, and seen electric arcs shoot across the doorway, from the hinges on one side to the door knob and striker plate on the other side. I am lucky to be here.

2:46 is... amazing.

I have Astraphobia. I get completely petrified when there's a storm outside. However, watching lightning from afar is ridiculously beautiful ✨❤️

It's a miracle that now one can shoot these slowmotion with their phones, Technology is really evolving

Wow I have never seen the lightning like that. It firstly looks for the way down and then hits with full power! Never knew before! I am actually blown away!

This footage is so awesome. I absolutely love it. Thanks for sharing.

'but recent advances in video camera technology' , uploads in 480p 😐

I love looking at comments on scientific videos.

Absolutely amazing photography and scientific exploration.

Wow lightning is pretty weird if you think about it, fucking millions of volts seemingly coming out of nowhere

this video got really good at the end

I could watch these things for hours. Sooo fascinating.

They’re so proud of their technology. Look at us go 11 years later with the RHK209 Cameras

Grateful to all the scientists who are doing research on this lightning phenomenon to unravel the mysteries surrounding it.

Very interesting. I particularly like the picture of the fence post emitting a positive charge as the lightning comes down. Was the post metal or was there something metsl underground?

This was amazing! Especially, considering the former " newest discovert" I read online about 20 years ago; it said that the bright flash was actually moving from the ground up. I could never see it and now I know why!

Things like this about nature is what keeps me going in life

This is really very interesting. It is very useful for understanding the phenomenon of lightning.