Don’t believe the old adage that says, “lightning never strikes the same place twice.”

According to the Empire State Building website, one of the most iconic buildings in the world is hit by lightning nearly two dozen times each year. And that’s just one building, surrounded by taller structures, in the middle of a huge city.

Lightning can be a wonder to behold, and who doesn’t enjoy a good late-summer thunderstorm rolling through the area. But with the beauty and wonder comes serious risk. And it’s possible that that risk has been at heightened levels this year.

Just in the last couple of weeks, there has been a spate of lightning strikes around the state that have left people with serious injuries. Some of those strikes have even been fatal.

Last Wednesday, in Batavia, cemetery caretakers found 34-year-old Richard Garlock and 32-year-old Jenea Macleod dead, with no obvious signs of a cause of death. The Erie County medical examiner later ruled lightning as the cause of death.

The very next day, a group of five people who were gathered around a bench at Mansion Square Park in Poughkeepsie were struck by lightning. According to the Associated Press, emergency responders found three unconscious victims and two who were conscious but injured. Some of their belongings were on fire when emergency responders arrived. A 50-year-old man died from his injuries a few days later and two other adults were in intensive care.

And if that wasn’t enough to convince you of the very real threat of lightning, on Friday, Aug. 12, six people were lying on the ground when police arrived at Lake George Battlefield Campground. Bystanders were performing CPR on a man who was part of a group of 12 that had been under a tree when the tree was struck by lightning. At the time, police said all six victims were expected to survive.

The National Weather Service says the odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are just one-in-12,000.

The NWS says that from 1984 to 2013, the United States averaged 49 lightning deaths each year, and only about 10 percent of people struck died. The other 90 percent suffered varying degrees of disability. That means that about 500 people report being struck each year. And don’t forget that a person doesn’t need to be struck directly to be injured or killed.

According to a paper published in 1998 by the University of Illinois at Chicago, “the primary areas of disability involve neurocognitive functioning, which manifests itself as deficits in short-term memory, processing of new information, personality changes, easy fatigability, and decreased work capacity. Chronic pain syndromes, sleep difficulties, dizziness, and severe headaches are also often reported,” Mary Ann Cooper wrote in the paper titled “Disability, not death, is the main problem with lightning injury.”

“Those who attempt to return to work often find they are unable to carry out their former functions and after a few weeks, when coworkers get weary of ‘covering’ for them, they either are put on disability (if they are lucky) or fired. Survivors often find themselves isolated because friends, family and physicians do not recognize their disability or feel they are ‘faking.'”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration describes the sort of danger that lightning can pose by stating that lightning can make the air temperature “anywhere from 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit to up to 60,000 degrees Fahrenheit.”

NOAA notes that New York had just four lightning deaths from 2003 to 2012. With three fatalities in just the last two weeks, it stands to reason that this year may be one of the worst in terms of lightning deaths for the state.

Richard Brandt, Science Manager for SUNY Albany at the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the Whiteface Mountain Observatory, said in an email that “lightning strikes occur because cells of atmospheric convection cause charge separation in part because lighter ice crystals get swept upward and heavier ice crystals fall. When they bump into each other (the) charge is transferred from the large to the small crystals.

“Warming of the lower atmosphere increases the chance of convection, so I’d expect an increase in convective storms would lead to a higher probability of lightning.”

This means that warmer ground temperatures could lead to more lightning forming, and NASA found that July was the hottest month recorded in 136 years. While it may be obvious that July is usually the warmest month of the year, this year’s July was 1.51 degrees hotter than the long-term average, so it’s no surprise that lightning strikes seem to be on the rise.

While the chances of getting struck by lightning are quite slim, most people who are struck are engaging in outdoor activities. And we all know that Adirondackers sure do like their outdoor recreation.

The leading consensus is that the best way to avoid being struck by lightning is to be indoors. But since we all like to be outside in the summer months, that seems like a lot to ask.

If you are indoors when a thunderstorm rolls through, the NWS says to stay away from plumbing and electrical and phone cords. Remote controls, cell phones and cordless phones should be fine to use.

If you’re outdoors and hear thunder, you are in danger even if the storm and clouds seem like they’re far away.

If you hear thunder or see lightning, get out of open fields, off the water and off of high ridges such as mountain summits. You should stay away from tall, solitary trees and the like, such as towers or telephone poles.

If you’re in the woods, shelter near shorter stands of trees. With a group of people, you should spread out so that if one person does get shocked, the rest of the group faces less of a chance of the current affecting them. You’ll want someone uninjured around to perform CPR or administer first aid.

You should also stay away from water and metal, and remember that a tent offers exactly zero protection from a lightning strike.

If you have a foam pad, you can lay that on the ground and squat on it to add some extra insulation in case the electrical current from the lightning is moving through the ground.

In short, find a low-lying place and get as small as you can. And hope that the spot you’re in isn’t like the Empire State Building.