My Trees Are Already Turning… But It’s Probably Not Fall

As I pulled up to my house last night, in the rain, I noticed that there are several limbs in my neighbors cottonwood trees that are starting to turn yellow already. Looking around my yard, I've got a ton of yellow fallen leaves lying around, makes me wonder if Fall really is setting in early like all the meteorologists are saying. Not that I don't trust weather science professionals, I just trust my years of living here a little more.

Summer usually gives way to what we call First Fall. It's that first big cold snap that comes barrelling in from Canada and gives women the craving for pumpkin spice everything. You start seeing leggings and North Face fleeces, people drinking coffee with two hands, the whole gambit of Fall arriving early. Having lived here for so long, I know that First Fall usually leads to Second Summer. The cold leaves just as fast as it came in, and temps shoot back up nearing 100 again, and it lingers in the 90's until Halloween.

So why are my neighbors ridiculously brittle trees already turning yellow?

Well, after extensive research online, it could be one of a million different things. Normally in SWOK, we'd attribute this to drought... but seeing as we've had a wet Summer, perhaps it's struggling to support life in the wet soil. It also could be the heat we've experienced the last few weeks, or even just unseen damage for the incredible storms that swept through last Sunday morning. Those winds were nothing to mess around with, I'm surprised those trees didn't come crashing through my roof into the bedroom.

Truth be told, if you asked five different arborists their opinions, you'd end up with five different opinions. I won't be lulled into thinking the hottest season of the worst year on record is coming to an abrupt halt... It'll be back, temps will be blazing, and we'll all conveniently forget the weather people got it wrong again.