Is "Lightning never strikes the same place twice" true?
Tall structures get struck by lightning again and again within a single storm: skyscrapers, radio towers, the occasional unlucky tree, sometimes dozens of times a year. That fact alone should have killed the old line about lightning never striking the same place twice decades ago. It survives anyway, useful as a metaphor for rare misfortune even though it's terrible meteorology. Lightning goes for the tallest, most conductive path available, not some cosmic rule about odds already used up.
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What you were taught
Lightning never strikes the same place twice
What we know now
Lightning often hits the same tall or conductive structures repeatedly. Tall buildings and towers can be struck many times in a single storm because electrical discharge is not limited to one strike per location.
Was "Lightning never strikes the same place twice" taught in school?
Yes — and not as a joke question on a quiz. This science claim showed up in textbooks, worksheets, and classroom posters through the 1980s, which is why so many people still remember it as settled fact long after the science moved on.
Is "Lightning never strikes the same place twice" true?
No. Lightning often hits the same tall or conductive structures repeatedly. Tall buildings and towers can be struck many times in a single storm because electrical discharge is not limited to one strike per location. If you want the primary citation, start with Britannica - Lightning Myth: Never Strikes the Same Place Twice.
When was this understanding updated?
The evidence had largely shifted by around 1985. Schools don't flip overnight, though — plenty of classrooms kept teaching the older version for years after researchers had already moved on.