There are a lot of reasons for not sleeping during a thunder storm. Some of my personal reasons include the fact I don't yet understand what the noise is all about. It has been explained to me in terms having to do with air currents in the upper atmosphere, but I don't care for the explanations. I still bark on the porch until someone lets me in to the living room where I feel safe between the coffee table and the couch.
Big noises ought to bring us together. Too often, I think, we scatter and endure disturbances alone. That only escalates my frightening fantasies of what is happening. Being close to someone else calms me.
Another reason for staying awake during any storm is storms are a great time for sitting together and telling stories. Sister Jan tells us about storms on the Kilian farm when she was a child. She enjoys thunderstorms. They bring memories of her Dad coming in from the field in the middle of the day. The rain would cool down a warm day and the family would sit together on their screened porch and watch the majestic show of lightening, wind, and bowing trees.
Minnesota is having lots of thunderstorms this summer. Gather with loved ones. Try to enjoy God's show. Here is the double rainbow Sister Carol photographed over the House of Francis hermitage after an especially big storm that was well deserving of an academy award for sound effects, choreography and the best actors in the universe. 
