FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT

DULUTH, MN - "The cold has impacted our business quite a bit. With the weather comes the vehicle problem, with the vehicles problems, that's where we come in,” said Duke’s Towing Inc. owner, Darin Lind.

The recent arctic blast not only brought the coldest temperatures in six years, it also brought plenty of car failures.

“Last week was pretty busy. We had all our trucks on the road, not much time in the office,” said tow truck driver Lucas Lilliberg.

Last winter’s lack of snow and cold had a negative impact on many northland businesses and a dull start to this winter brought back bad memories from the past. However, last week’s cold snap has generated a little bit of relief.

"Actually this year has been quite a bit more business that last year. Just mainly due to the cold weather and the few snow storms that we've had," said Lind

Car failures are a big reason for the increase in business for Dukes Towing but a bulk of the calls haven't been too major.

"A lot of jumpstarts, a lot of car unlocks. People starting the cars and locking their keys in their car" said Lilliberg.

For some companies, the deep freeze has brought business up by four to five hundred percent.

"On an average day, we do 10–15 calls. Last week we were doing 40 to 50 a day" said Lind.

While Duluth is more than 18 inches below normal on snow for this time of year, there is still time to make up the deficit, which could make things even better for the towing business.

"Business stays pretty steady throughout the year no matter what the season is. But I mean, cold weather definitely helps -- snow helps" said Lilliberg.

A more active weather pattern has made things feel a bit more like winter the last few weeks, and the tow truck drivers just want to be there to help out.

“It's part of the northland. Its kinda why we're here doing this, is to help out when the cold weather hits," said Lind.