Yes, I'm one of those crazy people that will be outside if I have half a chance (under an awning to stay out of the rain) But when there's a storm coming with Lightning... chances are im outside ready to watch. I dunno if its the native american blood in me that draws me to it or maybe im just crazy.... but I love it.
We've both seen some pretty intense storms lately, then. I copy<pasted the below from ARA about a storm last Thursday evening.
...By any literary criteria, it's a wild night. Rain is pounding down in sheets; heavy, menacing, gunmetal thunderheads rip themselves apart above the rooftops, unleashing a scream of flashbulbing lightning and hell-shaking thunder as they die.
The storm moved in while I was at a robotics club build session at a friend's garage. It got dark really quickly and the wind started gusting. It had been hot and muggy about an hour previous, so at least the drop in temperature was welcome. The power flickered a few times, but didn't go out. Roughly three thunderstorm cells moved through while we worked, and a medium-sized branch came down in their backyard.
Driving home, by myself, was... an experience. I think this was my first solo in a major storm. One of the friend's family reported a tree down across the secondary neighborhood entrance where I had come in - I checked it out later, but didn't get too close because somebody had set up road flares - but finding the main entrance was no big.
The lightning was absolutely surreal. It looks a lot less... friendly from the low-slung driver's seat of a car. Suddenly the two tons of metal around you seem a lot smaller and more vulnerable than when the sun was out...
There were relatively few lone bolts - although there were a several impressive ones - but flashes with the power of a nuclear weapon lit up the clouds every few seconds like strobes. The rain was heavy and winds strong, but thankfully the drops were big enough to fall more-or-less straight down, instead of being ripped apart into a fine, blinding mist by the wind. I drove defensively, going slower than normal and giving myself a lot of stopping room. I got home OK, and then had to take of three dogs (owners on a beach trip), one of whom is terrified by storms, unfortunately.