Social enterprise bakery Frost and Snow, which supports former homeless people in getting back into work, will also be based on the site.

BBC: Snow Hill apartments

He said sheep could cope in temperatures as low as -20C (-4F), and crops were protected from frost by the snow.

BBC: How are farmers coping with the snow?

There were light snow flurries on Thursday night and widespread frost in some rural areas such as the Wolds.

BBC: Snowy road in Newport

There would be a widespread hard frost, with ice a hazard, on Wednesday night while snow expected for Scotland and northern England on Thursday morning would bring the potential for disruption.

BBC: Snow leads to crashes and delays in parts of UK

Essentially, they isolated a rectangular column from the surrounding snowpack and used a snow saw to start an artificial fracture by cutting through the weak underlying frost layer, then watched what happened.

MSN: How a deadly avalanche can be triggered