"Mom, come home. A tree just fell on our house."

That would be my son, Jack, calling me at work. The big old spruce tree in our front yard had finally yielded to the hours of wind last Thursday, April 11, and toppled over from the roots up, barely missing his bedroom.

In precise meteorological terms, National Weather Service Duluth meteorologist Mike Stewart called Thursday's combination of heavy snow and wind "brutal."

Stewart said the Cloquet area saw sustained high winds most of the day with wind gusts between 45- and 55 mph, and a 58 mph gust at 3:19 p.m.

Our tree came down in the afte...