It’s Fall, but where are the fall leaves?

(ABC 6 News) – Fall is officially here but it doesn’t necessarily look like it outside.

Because of the severe drought and the hot temperatures we’ve had this summer. Our leaves are taking a little bit longer to turn to fall colors.

"One way trees do survive during drought is actually dropping their leaves because leaves release a lot of water and if the tree is already under water stress it’s going to drop those leaves to help preserve its water resource," said Jennifer Teegarden, Cooperative Forest Management Outreach Specialist, MN DNR.

What you might be seeing right now is that all trees have yellow pigment in their leaves. But you don’t see the yellow because chlorophyll is what gives leaves their green color.

Once temps drop and we get less sunlight- the amount of chlorophyll decreases changing the leaves’ color.

"We might have started seeing fall colors in your area but it’s probably not going to last until the end of October it might start a little early and then just not last much longer instead of a month-long it might be a week to two weeks long," Teegarden said.

Early to late October is when you typically see fall color in southeast Minnesota.