Lightning Strikes the Same Place Twice, Constantly

The Empire State Building gets hit by lightning about 20 to 25 times per year. For decades, people repeated the myth that lightning never strikes the same place twice, but this is completely false. Tall structures, exposed hilltops, and water bodies attract repeated strikes because lightning follows the path of least electrical resistance, and those conditions don't change between storms. Roy Sullivan, a park ranger in Virginia, was struck by lightning seven times over his lifetime and survived every strike. He became the person with the most documented lightning strikes on record. His case demolished the "never twice" idea in popular consciousness. Lightning also behaves in ways that defy intuition. It can travel sideways before striking downward, it heats the air around it to 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit (hotter than the surface of the sun), and ground current from a nearby strike can kill someone who wasn't directly hit. During severe storms, the same cloud can produce dozens of lightning bolts in minutes, and repeated strikes on the same location are statistically likely rather than rare. This is why lightning rods are so effective: they're designed to attract strikes deliberately, channeling the energy safely into the ground instead of through a building.