great pics!! yes its totally worth it ;-)
I've stood out in lightning with metal tripods many times and I love chasing storms ... there's something addictive about capturing an exact moment in time and storing it.
I took heaps like this on an old nikon cool pix a few years ago because I didn't want my good camera to get wet LOL
The most dangerous thing I ever did however was a few months ago ... I dropped a switched on lamp in a bath while shooting a model - who was in the bath ... which was full of water. But at least the video camera was running the whole time ;-)