Winds whipped the flags at Elks Club #233 at about 4:15 a.m. as a heavily hyped “blizzard” dropped the first half-foot of a previously expected two feet of snow on the Red Bank region Tuesday.

But weather forecasters downgraded the event early Tuesday from a blizzard to a ‘winter storm,’ and now expect just three-to-five more inches of snow as snowfall tapers off by 3 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)