It’s severe storms season here in the United States, and every year, these monsters of convection showcase both fury and beauty. This stunning time-lapse shows off their awe-inspiring power.

I’m a huge tornado geek, so I’ve watched a lot of footage and time-lapses of storms, but this one stood out to me, as I found the grading to be especially nice and the effort to contextualize the storms by using slightly wider-than-normal compositions to really lend some scope to the imagery. Supercells twirl beneath the Milky Way and mammatus clouds roll ominously by, their contours brought out by the setting sun. Created by Chad Cowan of Stormlapse with editing help from Kevin X Barth, “FRACTAL” captures the epic scope of these storms. The title derives from the mathematical concept of fractals, self-similar objects that repeat their structure across different scales. In reference to this, Cowan notes: 

On each scale level from synoptic scale, which covers areas the size of multiple states, all the way down to microscale, which could be an area as small as your backyard, the fluid which we call ‘air’ abides by the same universal physical laws of nature and thus acts in a very similar manner and patterns.

Of course, leave the chasing of severe and tornadic storms up to trained professionals; they are extremely dangerous and often unpredictable.