Widespread drought conditions may impact when trees begin to turn and drop leaves. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says the prolonged dry spell over the summer transitioning into last week’s rain could have an impact on when south central Iowa residents see fall colors on local trees.

“These cooler and wetter conditions that we’ve seen over the recent days, combined with the drought conditions and abnormal dryness that we’ve seen across the state should give us a good period of leaves changing probably in the next few weeks. And we’ve noticed in some areas, especially where it’s been drier, trees have actually been dropping their leaves, that’s a defense mechanism that they have to conserve water vapor and energy. They’ll shut the leaves off earlier and they’ll drop. So, that will also impact fall colors.”

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports the peak time to see brightly colored leaves in the southern third of Iowa is typically in the second through fourth weeks of October.