I have a ton more Oaks than you do and all species . I live in an Oak forest. You have like 4 scattered around . It’s mainly due to cool night and sunny days and cooler daytime temps . The coastal plain is last for a reason .. just like the mountains of NNE are first
All flowers planted in spring still growing and blooming .. peppers in garden still growing. I pulled tomato plants . Got angry and sick of looking at them this late
How far behind are your Oaks vs here ? You have had 2-3 freezes into the 20’s and my lowest temp this autumn is 37. So leaf change is almost entirely sunlight / lack of and cool daytime temps and much less if anything to to do with frosts and freezes .
About 90% bare here as you can see. We have all species of Oaks. I was in Atlanta/ Roswell , GA all week and was surprised that their leaves were as far along as they were. They had a few frosts last week they were telling us . Stein has a stranglehold down there. All the grass is torched like ours was all summer . It’s been extremely dry down there