Why do leaves turn yellow in autumn?

The magnificent autumn amazes us with a riot of colors, leaving no one indifferent. In nature, yellow, brown, crimson shades prevail. Why aren’t autumn leaves green?
The fact is that with a gradual decrease in daylight hours in the leaves of plants, chlorophyll is destroyed. It just doesn’t regenerate. There is too little light for this. Carotenoids begin to predominate in the leaves. These are the pigments that give the leaves their amazing autumn color. It becomes colder and colder, all life processes in plants slow down. The lack of minerals and water is becoming noticeable. And there are still snowfalls ahead. If the plants did not shed their leaves in the fall, they would become too heavy with snow. Plants are freed from leaves, as if helping themselves to survive, to continue growing the next year. For this reason, leaf fall occurs.