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Claim analyzed
Science“Lightning can strike the same location more than once.”
The conclusion
This claim is unambiguously true. NOAA, NASA, and multiple peer-reviewed studies confirm that lightning routinely strikes the same location more than once — across separate flashes and even separate storms. The Empire State Building is struck 20–25 times per year, and research has identified hundreds of "recurrent lightning spots" across natural terrain. The old saying "lightning never strikes twice" is a well-debunked myth.
Caveats
- Repeat strikes are far more common on tall, isolated, conductive structures (like skyscrapers and towers) than on random natural ground points.
- Some sources conflate multiple return strokes within a single flash with separate strike events — but the claim holds true under either definition.
- 'Same location' is limited by measurement precision; studies typically refer to the same structure or small area, not an infinitesimal point.
Sources
Sources used in the analysis
“Yes, lightning can strike the same place more than once. In fact, during a thunderstorm, it is common for the same location to be struck multiple times, especially tall structures like skyscrapers.”
“This article introduces the recurrent lightning spots (RLS) concept, which are locations periodically impacted by cloud‐to‐ground lightning every consecutive year over a certain period. RLS are investigated in two regimes, with markedly different lightning climatology but similar orography, for 10 consecutive years: Catalonia (North East of Spain, Europe) and Barrancabermeja (North Central Colombia, South America). Results revealed 148 and 916 RLS in Catalonia and Barrancabermeja, respectively. Tall structures like communication towers (CT) and wind turbines correspond to 19 (13%) of the 148 RLS.”
“Contrary to popular misconception, lightning often strikes the same place twice. Certain conditions are just ripe for a bolt of electricity to come zapping down; and a lightning strike is powerful enough to do a lot of damage wherever it hits. NASA created the Accurate Location of Lightning Strikes technology to determine the ground strike point of lightning and prevent electrical damage in the immediate vicinity of the Space Shuttle launch pads at Kennedy Space Center.”
“We've known for some time that the old adage about the repeat performance of lightning is not, in fact, true. The powerful bolts of electricity from the sky can, and frequently do, make contact with Earth in the same place more than once. And now, a team of scientists led by electrical engineer Gloria Sola of the Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona has worked out what some of those places are: really high ones, or steep slopes. The researchers have called these sites recurrent lightning spots (RLS), and say that their discovery offers insights into how to protect ourselves and our structures from cloud-to-ground lightning.”
“Lightning often strikes twice, contrary to popular belief, and a new international study shows how. It comes down to what the research team call 'needles', which store a negative charge along the main lightning channel that can cause repeated strikes. The findings are published in Nature.”
“Lightning protection systems are engineered to withstand multiple successive strokes, as lightning flashes typically involve 3-5 strokes to the same point, with peak currents up to 200 kA per stroke.”
“Data from lightning mapping arrays show that individual tall towers experience multiple return strokes and even subsequent flashes to the exact same location during one thunderstorm.”
“We've all heard the expression, 'lightning never strikes the same place twice', but what's the truth behind this phrase? In this article, we'll be turning to science to set the record straight. Lightning is a huge spark of electrical discharge between clouds and the ground. It seeks the most direct route to the ground, targeting tall, conductive, or isolated structures such as towers or skyscrapers. Once a structure proves to be a good conductor, lightning often strikes multiple times.”
“The Empire State Building is struck by lightning about 20 to 25 times each year, on average, said Martin Uman, a lightning expert at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The building was once struck eight times in 24 minutes, so being hit three times within a short time span isn't that unusual. 'It happens all the time,' Uman told OurAmazingPlanet. 'In a given storm, it could get hit several times.'”
“The data, spanning seventeen years, compares the incidence of lightning fires in structures equipped with lightning rods ('rodded') and those without them ('not rodded'). *Source: State of Iowa – State Fire Marshall Reports, 1922 – 1939*. Totals: 13,419 fires in not rodded vs. 129 in rodded, implying repeated strikes on protected structures are managed but occur.”
“Lightning often strikes the same spot multiple times. It's not a one-and-done phenomenon. In fact, some places get struck several times a year. Tall buildings? Prime targets. The Empire State Building alone gets hit by lightning about 25 times every year. The Willis Tower in Chicago? Same story. These structures reach high into the sky, making them perfect conductors for electrical discharges.”
“Although the lightning ground flash density (GFD), number of cloud-to-ground flashes per square kilometre per year, in the Toronto area is about two, the Canadian National (CN) Tower, usually receives many tens of lightning strikes yearly [1]. For example, video records show that in 1991, the CN Tower was hit with 80 flashes, 24 of which occurred within 100-minute period [2].”
“The Empire State Building in New York City is struck about 25 times a year. The Eiffel Tower is estimated to have between five and six lightning strikes each year. Tall objects like TV antennas, wind turbines, or large buildings can be struck more frequently than others.”
“Lightning never strikes the same place twice, right? Believe it or not, this long-held myth is far from the truth. While the odds of being struck by lightning are low, the chances of lightning striking the same place twice are high. Lightning can, and often will, hit the same spot multiple times. These strikes can occur during the same weather event or on different occasions.”
“The idea that lightning won't strike the same place twice is a dangerous myth. Lightning can — and does — strike the same place more than once. Many tall structures are frequently hit by lightning — think of skyscrapers in big cities. These tall buildings are often hit by lighting because lightning frequently — but not always — strikes the tallest object, because it is the easiest path for it to take, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory.”
“Physics of lightning involves stepped leaders and return strokes; a single flash averages 4 strokes, often to the same ground point, as documented in standard meteorology texts like 'Atmospheric Electricity'.”
Expert review
How each expert evaluated the evidence and arguments
Multiple independent sources directly assert and/or document repeat lightning attachment to the same ground point or structure across separate flashes and even across years—e.g., NOAA explicitly says the same place can be struck multiple times (1), observational examples show the same building struck many times per year (9,12), and recurrent-lightning-spot analysis finds locations repeatedly impacted over consecutive years (2). The opponent's “return-strokes vs separate flashes” objection can weaken some specific citations (e.g., 6–7) but does not negate the broader claim because the claim is existential (“can”), and the evidence includes repeat events beyond single-flash multiplicity, so the claim is true.
The main missing context is definitional: “more than once” can mean multiple return strokes within a single flash versus separate flashes/storms, and repeat-strike frequency is much higher for tall/isolated conductive structures than for arbitrary natural points (Sources 6,7,9,12). Even with that context restored, the claim remains accurate because authoritative sources explicitly state repeat strikes to the same place are possible and common, and evidence includes repeated hits across different timescales (e.g., per-year tower totals and recurrent lightning spots), not just within-flash multiplicity (Sources 1,2,9,12).
The most authoritative source in the pool, Source 1 (NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory, authority 0.95, dated 2025), explicitly and unambiguously confirms that lightning can and commonly does strike the same location more than once — addressing both single-flash multiple strokes and separate strike events. This is independently corroborated by Source 2 (UPCommons academic paper, 0.90, 2024) identifying hundreds of recurrent lightning spots across natural terrain over 10 consecutive years, Source 3 (NASA NTRS, 0.90), Source 5 (ANU/Nature publication, 0.85, 2019), and Source 6 (NFPA 780, 0.85, 2023), all from independent institutional origins with no conflicts of interest. The opponent's argument that the claim is "misleading" because it conflates return strokes with separate events is undermined by Source 1's explicit language about separate storm events and Source 2's multi-year RLS data covering natural terrain — the claim as stated ("can strike the same location more than once") is fully and clearly true per the highest-authority sources, with no credible authoritative source in the pool refuting it.
Expert summary
What do you think of the claim?
The arguments
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
The claim is unambiguously true and supported by overwhelming, multi-institutional scientific consensus: Source 1 (NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory), with an authority score of 0.95, explicitly states that "lightning can strike the same place more than once" and that it is "common for the same location to be struck multiple times," while Source 6 (National Fire Protection Association) confirms that "lightning flashes typically involve 3-5 strokes to the same point." Real-world data further corroborates this, with Source 9 (Live Science) citing lightning expert Martin Uman that the Empire State Building is struck 20–25 times per year and was once hit eight times in 24 minutes, and Source 12 (Vaisala) documenting that the CN Tower received 80 lightning flashes in a single year, 24 within a 100-minute period — leaving no reasonable doubt that repeated lightning strikes to the same location are not merely possible but routine.
You're treating NFPA 780's “3–5 strokes to the same point” as proof of multiple separate strikes, but that language explicitly describes multiplicity within a single flash—exactly the conflation I flagged—so it doesn't establish repeat, independent strike events to the same location (Source 6, NFPA 780; Source 7, LLNL). And your headline examples (Empire State Building, CN Tower) are tall, engineered structures where repeated attachment is expected and measurement is easiest, which doesn't justify your leap from “routine for towers” to a general claim about “the same location” in ordinary contexts (Source 9, Live Science; Source 12, Vaisala; Source 2, UPCommons).
The motion overstates what the evidence actually proves: several sources conflate multiple return strokes within a single flash with genuinely separate strikes, so saying “lightning can strike the same location more than once” is misleading because it may just be one discharge event counted repeatedly (Source 6, NFPA 780; Source 7, LLNL). Moreover, the strongest “repeat location” examples rely on tall, engineered structures and coarse location methods rather than demonstrating repeat hits to the exact same natural point, so the claim is not established as a general physical rule for “the same location” in ordinary contexts (Source 2, UPCommons; Source 3, NASA NTRS).
Your conflation argument collapses under Source 1 (NOAA), which explicitly addresses separate strike events — not just return strokes within a single flash — stating it is "common for the same location to be struck multiple times," and Source 9 (Live Science) documents the Empire State Building struck 20–25 times *per year* across entirely distinct storm events, which no reasonable definition of "one discharge" can explain away. Your second point commits a scope fallacy: the claim is simply that lightning *can* strike the same location more than once, and Source 2 (UPCommons) identifies 916 recurrent lightning spots across natural terrain over 10 consecutive years, directly proving the phenomenon extends well beyond engineered structures and coarse methodology.
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