Dear Tom,

Sometime between 1968-72, while I was walking home from Weber High School, I encountered very stormy conditions with a loud freight train noise, angry skies, and howling winds. Any details?

Thanks,  
John McGing   
Columbia, Maryland

Dear John,

The date was April 30, 1970, and it was a very stormy day in the Chicago area. A confirmed F-2 tornado carved out a five-mile long path from near O’Hare Airport in Des Plaines to northeast of the Golf-Mill Shopping Center in Niles. Though not fully documented, it appears that you were very close to another tornado that hop-scotched across the city’s northwest side, causing sporadic damage from in the area from North Avenue and Harlem to Irving Park and Kostner. The storm destroyed several garages, blew out numerous plate-glass windows, uprooted trees, downed signs and caused widespread power outages.