Stalker:SoC w/Oblivion Lost 2.2 is my first run through of the game (I'm playing it right now) and yes, I thought those random storms were really obnoxious...it took me forever to find out what's going on because there's no documentation on them that I could find, and I had no idea of what to do. After dying 5 times to them, I eventually tried to run back to the first area you start in, and you happen to start that area inside a building, so I realized the building was protecting me.
I'm in the third area now, the research institute, and it feels like the game is finally starting to pick up and get more interesting.