ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Even though it doesn’t feel like it, we are now in the fall season. Eventually, we will begin a slow cooling trend as we march on into October.

There are a lot of changes during the fall season. Fall Foliage is one of the most exciting parts of the year. When leaves change from green to that bright yellow, and orange to red, is really a beautiful thing with nature.

The unfortunate thing for us in Texas is, with warm temperatures hanging around during the first few months of fall, we normally see the leaves change color a while after most areas in the US.

Below is a look at the Fall Foliage Peak Times:

We are apart of a region that is normally the last in the country to reach peak foliage season. A few areas such as the Colorado Rockies region and northeast from New York to Maine are already in peak foliage season.

By mid-October, a majority of the country will already have seen the leaves begin to change colors. For north central Texas, including us in the Big Country and parts of the southeast. We won’t reach peak season until early November.

Now we know temperatures are going to get cold at some point, the challenge is finding out when exactly that is. Here is an idea on when we can expect our first freeze of the year:

You can see a pattern here. The areas that are the first to reach peak foliage season also tend to be the first areas to see the first freeze in the country. On average, the northern US would have its first freeze right around now.

Here in the Big Country, we normally get our first freeze during the first couple of weeks of November. Last year, our first freeze was on November 12 with a temperature of 28° Fahrenheit.

This year, things could be a bit different with El Niño conditions. Remember, El Niño brings warmer and drier weather to northern US while the southern US will get cooler and wetter weather.

The northern US states currently have not seen its first freezes of this year, with high temperatures currently ranging from the 50s to 60s and lows in the 40s to 50s.

With El Niño conditions expected to strengthen into the winter months, only time will tell if it has an early or late impact on the Lone Star State. What is certain is that cooler conditions are coming to stay sometime soon.