. >> reporter: tim samaras is a seasoned storm chaser and no stranger to wild weather. >> most of the core i believe is right here. >> reporter: but today he's focused on another nearly impossible mission. he's attempting to document the birth of a lightning strike. tim wants a glimpse behind that blazing flash he believe this is moment holds the clues that will help us better understand the mystery of this lethal phenomenon. armed with an ultra high speed camera. >> a shot we just got. >> reporter: cool. oh, my gosh. he will try to capture this elusive moment as it's never been seen before. >> and return strobe. >> reporter: oh, my gosh. this is it? >> that's it. >> reporter: each lightning bolt is five times hotter than the n average of 54 people a year in the u.s. alone. and even though every thunderstorm is pregnant with that brilliant but deadly force we know surprisingly little about where, when or why it strikes. >> why does it choose a target like a tree instead of a building or building instead of a tree? perhaps some of the imagery we collect in the field may help answer som

. >> it's not something i thought i would chase but it's the issue that tim samaras, one of my favoritelogists and respected scientist is doing, i got to go out with him as he tried to make history. check it out. we're chasing one of nature's most destructive and unpredictable forces. >> oh, look at that! >> reporter: tim samaras is a seasoned storm chaser and no stranger to wild weather. >> most of the core, i believe, is right here. >> reporter: but today, he's focused on another nearly impossible mission. he's attempting to document the birth of a lightning strike. armed with an ultra high-speed camera, he'll try to capture this elusive moment as it has never been seen before. >> and the return stroke. >> reporter: oh, my gosh. his results so far have been impressive. these shots came from a high-speed camera called the phantom. it can record at 10,000 frames per second, but, in order to capture that fleeting moment, when the lightning bolt is actually born, samaras will need something much faster. okay, we're going to go see the kahuna. >> 82 cameras on this instrument taking one pi

tim samaras. he's a seasoned storm chaser, and this time, he's attempting the nearly impossible. capturing an image of the birth of a lightning strike. >> studying lightning, studying tornadoes, are one of the final frontiers of meteorology. >> reporter: what you might not know that is cloud to ground lightning forms when a bolt of energy comes down from the sky and meets another, rising up from the ground. that flash of light you see is when the two bolts meet and rush back to the cloud. samaras now wants to learn more about what's behind that explosive flash and believes his photographs could provide answers as to where and when bolts strike. potentially saving lives. >> this happens to be the highest resolution, highest speed camera in the world. >> reporter: it's called the kahuna. >> weighs 1,600 pounds and basically a huge monster. >> reporter: along our journey, the kahuna sits inside samaras' mobile laboratory. >> 202 hertz. >> reporter: traversing four states, more than 800 miles, we search for the ultimate shot. >> this storm kicked out several lightning strikes, they w