Lightning is fast. It is also incredibly hot—about five times hotter than the surface of the sun. Most of us spend our lives assuming that if we just stay indoors during a storm, we’ve successfully dodged a cosmic bullet. We take comfort in the old adage that "lightning never strikes twice." But that’s a lie. It’s a complete myth. In fact, if you ask Roy Sullivan or the various survivors who have lived through multiple hits, they’ll tell you the sky doesn’t have a memory. It doesn’t care that it already got you. Being struck by lightning twice is statistically improbable, sure, but it happens more often than the math suggests it should.
Physics is weird like that.
The odds of a person in the U.S. being hit by lightning in a given year are roughly 1 in 1.2 million. If you calculate the probability of that happening twice, the numbers get so astronomical they barely seem real. You’re looking at one-in-several-trillion territory. Yet, the National Weather Service (NWS) and meteorologists like Chris Vagasky have pointed out that lightning isn't a random number generator. It’s looking for the path of least resistance. If you work outdoors, live in a high-strike zone like Florida’s "Lightning Alley," or have certain hobbies, those "trillion-to-one" odds collapse into much scarier, realistic numbers.
Why Lightning Hits Twice (and Sometimes Way More)
Roy Sullivan remains the king of this terrifying hill. A Virginia park ranger, Sullivan was hit seven—yes, seven—separate times between 1942 and 1977. He lost toenails, had his hair set on fire multiple times, and eventually started carrying a bucket of water in his truck just in case. People started avoiding him during storms. Can you blame them? While Sullivan is the extreme outlier, his story highlights a crucial point: environment matters more than luck.
Lightning is an electrical discharge seeking to neutralize the difference between the clouds and the ground. It wants the highest point. It wants conductivity. If you are a park ranger standing on a lookout tower or patrolling a ridge, you are literally the best target in the area.
The Science of "Successive Strikes"
When we talk about being struck by lightning twice, we have to distinguish between two things. There are people hit in two different storms years apart, and then there’s the phenomenon where a single "bolt" actually contains multiple strokes.
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If you watch high-speed footage of a storm, you’ll see that a single flash isn't just one hit. It’s often three, four, or even twenty pulses traveling down the same ionized channel in milliseconds. To the human eye, it looks like one flicker. To your nervous system, it’s a repeated rhythmic hammering of high-voltage current. This is why many survivors report feeling "thrown" or "hit again" while they are still on the ground.
- Point Discharge: If you’ve been hit once, you might be in a location that is naturally prone to strikes.
- The "Attachment" Process: As the stepped leader comes down from the cloud, "streamers" rise up from objects on the ground. If you’re the one throwing up the most efficient streamer, you’re the winner of a very bad lottery.
- Surface Arcing: Sometimes the second "hit" isn't a direct strike but ground current. You get hit by the primary bolt, and then the current traveling through the soil hits you again through your other foot.
The Health Reality of Surviving the Unthinkable
What does it actually feel like? Honestly, most survivors don't remember the impact. They remember a flash, a deafening "boom" that feels like it’s inside their skull, and then waking up on the dirt.
Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, a leading expert on lightning injuries and founder of the Lightning Strike & Electric Shock Survivors International (LSESSI), has spent decades studying the long-term effects. It’s not just about burns. In fact, many people hit by lightning have no external burns at all. The real damage is neurological.
Imagine your body is a computer and someone just shoved a billion volts through the motherboard.
The "flashover" effect is what saves most people. This is when the lightning zips over the outside of the body—often vaporizing sweat or rainwater into steam—rather than traveling through the internal organs. This is why you see photos of people with their clothes blown off or shoes shredded. The expansion of air and steam is explosive. But even with flashover, the nervous system takes a massive hit.
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Long-Term Symptoms
- Memory Loss: Survivors often struggle with short-term memory or "brain fog" that lasts for decades.
- Lichtenberg Figures: These are the famous "lightning trees" or fern-like patterns that appear on the skin. They are caused by the rupture of capillaries as the charge passes through. They usually fade in a few days.
- Chronic Pain: Many who have been struck by lightning twice report intense, localized nerve pain that mimics fibromyalgia.
- Personality Changes: Family members often note that survivors become more irritable or easily overwhelmed by sensory input.
The Geography of Risk: Where the Odds Shift
If you’re worried about being struck by lightning twice, you probably shouldn't move to Florida. Specifically, the area between Tampa and Cape Canaveral. This is the lightning capital of North America. The sea breezes from both coasts collide in the middle of the state, forcing air upward and creating massive, electrified thunderstorms almost daily in the summer.
But it’s not just Florida. The central United States, parts of the Himalayas, and the Congo Basin are hotspots. In these places, the "odds" are a suggestion, not a rule.
There’s also the "human factor." Men are struck by lightning significantly more often than women—roughly 80% of fatalities are male. This isn't because lightning is sexist. It’s because of behavior. Men are statistically more likely to continue fishing, golfing, or working on a roof after a storm begins. They are also more likely to be in "blue-collar" outdoor professions. If you stay outside when you hear thunder, you’ve just manually lowered the odds of being hit. Do it twice, and you’re tempting a very specific kind of fate.
Misconceptions That Get People Hurt
We need to clear some things up. There’s a lot of "old wives' tale" nonsense surrounding lightning safety that actually makes a second strike more likely.
"Rubber tires protect you in a car."
No. Your car is a safe place because it acts as a Faraday cage. The metal frame conducts the electricity around the outside of the vehicle and into the ground. A convertible or a fiberglass car won't do much for you. The rubber tires are irrelevant at the voltage levels we’re talking about.
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"The 'Lightning Crouch' will save you."
For years, people were told to crouch down on the balls of their feet if they were caught in the open. The NWS has largely moved away from this. Why? Because it doesn't really work. If you’re close enough to the strike for the crouch to matter, you’re already in the "strike zone." The only real safety is an enclosed building or a metal-topped vehicle.
"You can touch a lightning victim."
Absolutely. Please do. The body doesn't "store" electricity. If someone is hit, they need CPR immediately. Most lightning deaths are caused by cardiac arrest. Their "internal clock" has been reset, and they just need a jumpstart to get the heart beating again.
What Really Happened to Beth Peterson?
Beth Peterson is one of the few people who has written extensively about being struck by lightning twice. Her story is harrowing because it wasn't just a fluke; it was a life-altering sequence of events. The first strike happened while she was working in the woods. The second strike happened years later.
She describes the aftermath as a "slow-motion" shattering of her previous life. The physical pain was one thing, but the psychological toll of wondering why me? is what lingers. When you’re hit once, you can call it an accident. When it happens twice, you start to feel like the universe has a vendetta. This is a common psychological trait among multi-strike survivors—a form of PTSD that makes every dark cloud feel like a personal threat.
Practical Steps to Avoid the "Twice-Hit" Club
If you've already been hit once, or if you just want to make sure you never join the club, there are hard-and-fast rules that go beyond "don't stand under a tree."
- The 30-30 Rule is Outdated: It used to be: "count the seconds between the flash and the bang." Forget that. If you can hear thunder, you are within striking distance. Period. Lightning can strike 10 to 12 miles away from the actual rain shaft. This is the "bolt from the blue."
- Indoor Plumbing is a Conductor: If you’re inside during a heavy electrical storm, stay off the landline phone (if you still have one) and avoid the shower. Metal pipes are fantastic conductors.
- Get a Lightning App: Modern tech is actually useful here. Apps like My Lightning Tracker use real-time data from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN). If a strike happens within 5 miles of your GPS location, get inside.
- Check Your Roof: If you live in a high-risk area, a professionally installed lightning rod (properly grounded) doesn't "attract" lightning; it provides a safe, low-resistance path for the strike to follow so it doesn't blow a hole through your attic.
Lightning is a force of nature that we tend to underestimate because it’s so common. We see it every summer. We hear it in the distance. But for those who have lived through being struck by lightning twice, it is a reminder that the world is much more volatile than our daily routines suggest. You aren't "due" for a strike, and you aren't "safe" just because it already happened. You are just a biological entity living in a highly charged atmosphere.
Actionable Insights for Storm Safety
- Identify your "Safe Spaces" early: Before a hike or outdoor event, know exactly where the nearest grounded building or metal vehicle is.
- Monitor the "Backside" of Storms: Many people get hit after the rain has stopped because they think the danger has passed. Wait at least 30 minutes after the last peal of thunder before heading back out.
- Upgrade your Surge Protection: It’s not just about you; it’s about your gear. Use Point-of-Use surge protectors, but consider a whole-house surge protector at the breaker panel if you live in a high-strike region.
- Educate others on the "Touch" Myth: If you see a strike, be ready to assist. You cannot be electrocuted by touching the victim. Your quick action with a defibrillator (AED) or CPR is the only thing that can reverse a "fatal" strike.