It's one of those sayings we grow up with. Lightning never strikes the same place twice, so once it's hit somewhere, that spot is safe forever. People use it to mean a rare bit of bad luck won't happen again. It's comforting. It's also not true.
Lightning can, and often does, strike the same place more than once. In fact, it tends to hit tall, prominent, or conductive objects, which means the same spots get struck over and over. The Empire State Building in New York City is hit about 23 times a year on average.
Why Lightning Picks Favorites
Lightning is a giant spark of electricity between a storm cloud and the ground, or within the clouds. When it heads for the ground, it's more likely to find objects that stick up and conduct electricity well. A tall building, a radio tower, or a lone tree on a hill is a likely target.
Those things don't move after they've been hit. So the very features that made a spot a target the first time still make it a target the next time a storm rolls through. Lightning has no memory, and it certainly doesn't avoid places it's already visited.
A Skyscraper That Draws the Sparks
The Empire State Building is a perfect example. It rises 1,454 feet to the top of its pinnacle, which is covered with broadcast antennas and topped with a lightning rod. Standing so tall above the city, it's a natural magnet for strikes.
That's exactly what lightning rods are for. Benjamin Franklin came up with his pointed lightning rod in 1749, and a Czech priest named Prokop Diviš set up a grounded rod of his own in 1754. The idea is to give lightning an easy path to the ground so it doesn't damage the building, again and again if needed.
The Man Who Was Struck Seven Times
People can be struck more than once, too. Roy Sullivan, a park ranger at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, survived being struck by lightning seven times between 1942 and 1977. Guinness World Records recognizes him as the person struck by lightning more recorded times than anyone else.
His first documented strike came in 1942, when he took shelter in a brand-new fire lookout tower that didn't have a lightning rod yet. The tower was hit several times. Sullivan ran out, only to be struck a few feet away. It burned a strip along his leg and left a hole in his shoe.
Lightning by the Numbers
Lightning is far more common than most of us realize. Around the world, it flashes about 44 times every second, adding up to roughly 1.4 billion flashes a year. Most of it happens over land in the tropics.
The lightning capital of the world is Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, where a phenomenon called Catatumbo lightning produces about 250 bolts a day on roughly 297 days a year. Closer to home, Central Florida is known as Lightning Alley. A single bolt can heat the air around it to about 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and that sudden blast of heat is what creates thunder.
So the next time a storm rolls in, don't count on the old saying to keep you safe. Head indoors, wait it out, and enjoy the light show from behind a window.
