It wasn’t in the forecast issued earlier in the day by the National Weather Service, but the Greater Red Bank Green experienced the season’s first snowfall Thursday afternoon. 

The fast-falling snow, which began shortly after noon and was still coming down three hours later, caused near-whiteout conditions on Shrewsbury Avenue, top photo, and Maple Avenue, above, in Red Bank.

By then, the NWS had issued a “winter weather message” forecasting accumulations of up to two inches, plus a light glazing of ice.

Just as concerning: the NWS says the region can expect strong winds, with gusts up to 50 miles per hour, and the possibility of downed trees and power outages.

Shortly before 3 p.m., the Jersey Central Power & Light outage map showed one outage affecting fewer than 20 customers in the area of Sycamore Avenue just east of Route 35.

(Photos by John T. Ward.  Click to enlarge.)