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NEGAUNEE TOWNSHIP -- Fall is coming and the plants know it. They're already prepping for the shorter days and colder nights.

But the official start of the season isn't until late September.

Marquette County has received about normal rainfall, recently. And that's why trees there are still green. But in other U.P. locations, it's been rather dry.

"Got a report north of Rapid River of trees that are just turning brown," said Karl Bohnak, TV6 & FOX UP Chief Meteorologist. "The leaves are turning brown and falling off evidently because of the dry weather."

Locations like Iron Mountain have also missed out on most of the big rains this summer. Still, people return every year to see the reds, oranges, and yellows.

"We do get a lot of tourists coming during the Fall colors season," said Scott Slavin, D.N.R. Lead Ranger. "They usually like to take a boat out on the lake. And on the roads they can have some really good viewing opportunities like climbing up Sugarloaf or Hogsback. You can really see the contrast with the lake going up the hills to the mountains and it's really pretty."

Call it the "gales of September"; big wind storms roll through the Great Lakes around this time of year, which could huff, puff, and blow away your chances at seeing the lovely leaves.

"If all of a sudden you got the leaves to peak and the wind starts to blow - there's a big gale - the leaves will come off very quickly," Bohnak said.

The fall color season usually peaks between late September and early October-- earliest in the northern U.P. and latest once you're farther south and closer to the Great Lakes shores.