The first snowstorm of 2020-2021 lived down to billing, leaving behind a heavy, wet mess of slush and puddles across the Greater Red Bank Green Thursday morning.

With snow still falling and strong winds adding bite that drove the feels-like temperature down to the mid-teens, a shoveler faced a long slog at the SuperFoodtown on Broad Street in Red Bank, above.

Slush and sparks fly off a Monmouth County public works plow as it cleared  Broad Street at East Bergen Place shortly after 5 a.m. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

On a brief predawn tour on foot, redbankgreen encountered about six inches of ice-topped snow, with equal depths of slush in roadway gutters and at intersections.

The National Weather Service forecast that the snowfall would end by 10 a.m., bringing less than one additional inch. But the wind, with gusts as high as 40 mile per hour, will continue, imperiling tree limbs and power lines.

Shortly before 6 a.m, the Jersey Central Power &  Light outage website showed 34 Little Silver customers without electricity; fewer than 5 in Red Bank; and none in Fair Haven.

Meantime, a state of emergency issued Wednesday by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy remained in effect.

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