FALSE

The claim that lightning never strikes the same place twice is a scientifically false myth 1 2 5. High-credibility sources including NOAA and the National Weather Service confirm that lightning can and often does strike the same location repeatedly 1 2. This occurs most frequently with tall, pointy, or isolated objects 2 12. NASA states that certain environmental conditions make specific locations particularly susceptible to being zapped multiple times 3. Furthermore, evidence suggests that if lightning strikes a location once, the odds are actually higher it will strike there again 4. While the phrase has entered common parlance as an idiom for rare events, it is factually incorrect as multiple strikes happen at various sites multiple times per year 6 9 10.