Photographer captures stunning 8K time-lapse video footage of storms and tornadoes hitting the U.S.

The raw power and stunning beauty of storm clouds, thunder and lightning has dazzled humanity since the dawn of time. For the first time ever, that beauty has been captured in glorious 8k time-lapse video.

Landscape Photographer Ty Schmitt, who has been chasing storms for the last eight years, recently spent three months traveling 30,000 miles across the U.S. to capture footage of some of America’s most powerful storms for his new documentary ‘From Darkness to Light.’

Schmitt unveiled the awe-inspiring footage on YouTube on Wednesday after navigating America’s storm-chasing hotbeds in the Great Plains of the Midwest and Arizona.

‘Most people don’t realize that it can sometimes take upwards of 100,000 miles of chasing before you finally come across a storm that has perfect structure, awesome lighting, and produces a tornado,’ Schmitt told Fast Company about his new film.

Schmitt shot the footage in 8k time-lapse video, providing a previously unattainable level of visual detail of some of the nation’s most powerful storms

‘People come from around the world to chase storms in the Midwest as it produces the most photogenic storms in the world,’ he continued. ‘The Great Plains is the Mecca for storm chasing/storm structure and tornadoes.’ 

The film footage shows lightning bolts dancing through the sky amid swirling cloud formations and tornadoes twisting across grasslands with a previously unattainable level of visual detail.

‘I put in 30,000 miles over a 3 month span chasing storms across the Great Plains this spring, and was rewarded with some of the most unbelievable sights my eyes have seen,’ Schmitt told followers on his Instagram page.

The awe-inspiring video was shot in the storm-chasing hotbeds of the Midwest Great Plains in addition to Arizona

Schmitt has been chasing storms for the last eight years