News Photo by Steve Schulwitz A tree in Alpena shows off its bright red leaves on Friday. Leaves in the area are beginning to change, but the peak of the fall foliage season isn’t expected until the middle of October.

ALPENA — Mother Nature has begun to splash color onto her canvas of trees in Northeast Michigan.

Although it’s a little more than two weeks into September, some trees have already started to transition into their autumn attire. It will be several weeks until the trees reach their full-colored grandeur.

Leaves change color during the autumn because the amounts of pigments change as the leaves prepare to fall from the trees.

As summer draws to a close and days get shorter, trees and leaves are exposed to less sunshine. This is a sign leaves will stop producing chlorophyll. Once this happens, the green color begins to fade and the reds, oranges, and yellows slowly begin to appear.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Sabrina Jauernic said it isn’t uncommon for some trees to begin to change color or shed their leaves before October. Jauernic said the weather conditions in Northeast Michigan have been favorable for leaves to change, especially recently.

“The shorter days really kick the change into full gear and begins the process of the leaves turning color and eventually dying and falling off the trees,” she said. “We have also seen mild temperatures during the day and cooler temperatures at night that have also spurred the transition. We aren’t near the peak of the change yet, but things are certainly underway.”

Jauernic said residents in Northeast Michigan who live near the Lake Huron shoreline may have to drive inland to see any color. She said water temperatures locally are still quite warm, which helps trees from being exposed to colder air a short drive out of town.

“You usually see the leaves begin to change a ways from the lake. Right now, the water temperature is still in the mid-sixties, so that helps keep the trees warm overnight. Typically the first colors come on trees inland and in higher elevations, which we are seeing now in Gaylord,” she said.

The next several days are expected to be warm in the area with temperatures climbing into the 80s. Jauernic said it is hard to tell how that will impact the leaves. She said the warm air could help preserve the leaves, allowing for them to hang on branches longer, or, she said, it could have a negative impact on them.

It could stall them from changing color for a while, but it could also stress them out and cause the leaves to fall,” she said. “It is really impossible to know for sure one way or another.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, oak trees will turn from green to red, brown, or russet, while hickories will be golden bronze. Aspen and yellow-poplar are yellow when changed, and most maple trees are a red or scarlet color.

SmokeyMountains.com has once again released its fall foliage prediction map, which shows when fall colors are expected to peak across the United States.

For Northern Michigan, the map predicts peak color in the area will be from early to mid-October, but be well underway in their transition by Sept. 26.