Spiral clouds of steel blue and ink black, bolts of lighting stretching for miles casting a spider’s web across the sky, eerie rumblings and thunder strikes freezing one’s blood, accompanied by rain, storms and hail: Thunderstorms are light shows literally off the planet.

These tremendous forces of nature are beautiful and frightening alike … and more than just heavy weather. Recent research data indicate that heavy storms and lightning in Africa are generating the notorious Atlantic hurricanes which hit the Caribbean and the US coast every summer. The bolts are even connected to climate change and obviously influence earth’s magnetic field. However, up to the present day we don’t know exactly were these lightning strikes come from and how they are created.

These topics are all part of this documentary that will focus on the current state of lightning and thunder storm research using latest digital video technology. It traces the myth of ball lightning and goes into detail of a lightning strike’s anatomy as well as provides answers to sprites – lightning bolts that explode into the depth of space. A co-production by ORF, Cosmos Factory, National Geopraphic Channel, National Geographic Channels International and ZDF.