A large swath of the northeastern United States has been blanketed in snow, with New York City receiving a higher snowfall in one day than it did in the entire winter season last year.

The snowstorm hit on Wednesday, US time, and continued into Thursday afternoon.

By 12am on Thursday, 6.5 inches had been recorded at New York's Central Park. That was already higher than the total snowfall of the entire 2019-20 season, at 4.8 inches.

As of 8am, local time, the National Weather Service had recorded 10 inches at Central Park - and snow continued to fall throughout the rest of the morning.

Outside New York City, other areas received even more. Upstate, the city of Binghamton was hit particularly hard, recording a whopping 41 inches. That led the local government to ban travel for everyone except essential personnel.

According to the Weather Service, Newark Valley had 44 inches and Vestal had 41. Across state lines to the west, in Pennsylvania, Litchfield recorded 43 inches.

Records were broken all over the place. Williamsport Regional Airport received 24.7 inches, breaking its previous mark for a single snowstorm, which had stood since 1964.

Further northeast, in Massachusetts, the city of Boston reported 9 inches.

There were 11 inches in Newark, New Jersey, up to 12.5 inches in parts of Hartford, Connecticut and 6.6 inches in Philadelphia.

A winter storm warning remained in effect for much of New England until 1pm.

The storm brought more than stunning scenery though. It also created dangerous conditions on America's roads, with a number of incidents resulting in deaths.

Police in Virginia said a 19-year-old had died after his car ran off the side of a highway and overturned.

In Pennsylvania, a crash involving as many as 60 vehicles on the Interstate 80 freeway killed two people, prompting the state's Governor Tom Wolf to remind people to stay home if at all possible.

There was a 27-car pileup on New York City's Henry Hudson Bridge, causing six people to be hospitalised. Thankfully, their injuries were not severe.

Originally published as 'Absolute insanity': Record snowfall hits