Does lightning really never strike the same place twice?

The saying is a myth. The CDC states plainly that lightning can strike the same place twice, and that it often hits the same place repeatedly, especially a tall, pointy, isolated object. The National Weather Service makes the same point in its list of lightning myths. The saying works as an idiom about unusual events, but it does not describe how lightning behaves. [1] [2] [3]

Most lightning starts inside a cloud, and a channel forms to carry charge toward the ground. According to Weather.com, when the channel gets within about 100 yards of the ground, objects below send sparks upward to meet it. Tall objects such as skyscrapers, trees and mountains are more likely to produce that upward spark. The National Severe Storms Laboratory says lightning usually, though not always, strikes the tallest object for this reason. [3] [4]

The NSSL adds that ground conditions may also matter. Moisture or salt in the soil, rock, standing water, buried pipes or metal, and the shape of the terrain could make one spot more likely to be struck than a nearby one. It also notes that repeat strikes could partly be a statistical fluke, given how much lightning occurs. [4]

The Empire State Building is the standard example. The National Weather Service says it is hit about 23 times a year. The CDC and Weather.com give 25, and an older AccuWeather blog post says 100. These figures conflict, so the exact number is unclear, but all of them are well above once. Weather.com reports that the building was struck eight times in 24 minutes during one storm, and that its lightning rod gives the current a conductive path to the ground. Weather.com also notes that the Apollo 12 Saturn V rocket was struck twice, 16 seconds apart, shortly after launch on November 14, 1969. [1] [2] [3] [5]

A single flash can itself hit the same place more than once. A University of Arizona scientist, Crimmins, says high-speed photography shows multiple pulses of lightning in one strike: once a channel connects cloud and ground, it acts like a wire and can carry several discharges. Separately, the NSSL says about half of all flashes have more than one ground strike point, so at least 30 million points on the ground are struck each year in the US. Testing cited by the National Weather Service found multiple attachment points in at least half of negative flashes and over 70 percent of positive ones. [6] [4] [2]

Sources differ somewhat on metal. The National Weather Service says height, pointed shape and isolation dominate, and that metal makes no difference to where lightning strikes, pointing to trees and mountains that are hit many times a year. The University of Arizona's Crimmins says lightning is attracted to both metal and tall objects, that a metal spike will likely be the path of least resistance, but that air currents, aerosols and humidity can send a strike elsewhere. The sources agree that no spot is guaranteed to be hit or spared. [2] [6]