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Leaves start falling around metro, but in most cases, it's not a pretty sight

ATLANTA — It’s still September, but leaves have already started to fall around the metro, and in most cases, it’s not a pretty sight. The color seems to be missing.

Autumn in the North Georgia mountains is material seen on postcards, but this season, there are signs that something is wrong.

"When we start losing leaves a little bit early, you want to find out why,” Eddie Ayers said. Ayers is a University of Georgia agriculture extension agent in Gilmer County.

He said it's happening all over the metro. "The trees just have been stressed all year long,” Ayers said.

Channel 2 Chief Meteorologist Glenn Burns took to Facebook after noticing the leaves were falling with no color. His online followers noticed it too.

Ayers said a late spring freeze, coupled with a wet summer is to blame.

The result is some leaves are turning brown instead of red or orange and dropping.

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Colorful autumn leaves are important for tourism in this neck of the woods. “You keep your fingers crossed. Keep your fingers crossed that Mother Nature loves fall as much as we do,” local Chamber of Commerce CEO Paige Green said. "We're not canceling fall, obviously. But we have been concerned with all the rain we had during the summer months. Watching the leaves fall early and more of them,” Green said.

Ayers said the peak time is still three or four weeks away. "Purple, red, yellow. It may be more of the oak trees than some of the others, but we should have a good season still,” Ayers said.

The rainy summer has had an upside: a super apple crop. Green said local orchards are reporting bigger, sweeter fruit. Gilmer County is known as the Apple Capital of Georgia.