Rain an occluded front, with thunderstorms possible, but usually their passage is associated with a drying of the air mass. Occluded fronts usually form around mature low-pressure areas. What separates rainfall from other precipitation types, such as ice pellets and snow, is the presence of a thick layer of air aloft which is above the melting point of water, which melts the frozen precipitation well before it reaches the ground. If there is a shallow near surface layer that is below freezing, freezing rain (rain which freezes on contact with surfaces in subfreezing environments) will result. Hail becomes an increasingly infrequent
Centenary 1000 Mt St Bernard and Hotham Heights. The stage however was interrupted with a torrential downpours of rain hail and sleet and the race was suspended at Mt Buffalo, after covering around . The riders were accommodated at the Mt Buffalo Chalet as they were effectively marooned, with the road to Wangaratta under of water, the Alpine road over Mt St Bernard was impassable and of snow fell at Mt Hotham. Milliken suffered a puncture on Mt Buffalo and had to wait more than an hour for a spare wheel. It was reported that he was almost frozen and he abandoned