Lightning often strikes the same place repeatedly, especially if its a tall, pointy, isolated object. The Empire State Building was once used as a lightning laboratory because it is hit nearly 25 times per year, and also known for its high strike rate per storm(up to a dozen).

While a house is the safest place you can be during a storm, just going inside isn’t enough. You must avoid any conductive path leading outside, such as electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, plumbing, metal doors or metal window frames. Don’t stand near a window to watch the lightning. An inside room is generally safe, but a home equipped with a professionally installed lightning protection system is the safest shelter available.

While it may be true that being in a car will likely protect you, most vehicles are actually safe because of the metal roof and siding that diverts lightning around you. Convertibles, motorcycles, bikes, open shelled outdoor recreation vehicles and cars with plastic or fiberglass shells offer no protection against lightning at all.

Surge protectors and suppressors are important components of a complete lightning protection system, but can do nothing to protect a structure against a direct lightning strike. These items must be installed in conjunction with a lightning protection system to provide whole house protection.

The presence of metal makes very little difference in determining where lightning will strike. Height, pointy shape, and isolation are the dominant factors in whether lightning will strike an object (including you). However, touching or being near metal objects, such as a fence, can be unsafe when thunderstorms are nearby.

Lightning is indiscriminate and it can find you anywhere. Lightning may hit the ground instead of a tree, cars instead of nearby phone poles, and parking lots instead of buildings.