Just days from the official start of summer -- June 20 at 10:24 p.m. EDT -- climatologists from the Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC) at Cornell University won't let you soon forget this past winter's snow. How much snow was there?

So much, that 18 all-time seasonal snow records were smashed throughout the Northeast. New York received 42.4 billion tons -- or 84.8 trillion pounds -- of the white stuff.

"Just think," said Art Degaetano, a climatologist at the Cornell-based center, "If tons of snow were dollars, this winter would have put a pretty good dent in the national debt."

The snow season is traditionally marked by NRCC climatologists from Oct. 1 through May 31. Now that all the reports are in from about 450 weather stations throughout the Northeast, the center has found that very few Northeastern states were spared from this past season's whitefall.

New York City received 323 percent of its normal snowfall, registering 75.6 inches, which broke the 63.2 inches mark set back in the winter of 1947-48. New York City received 52.2 inches more than normal.

While not setting all-time records, upstate New York locations took heavy hits. Syracuse, N.Y. -- the snowiest location in the Northeast -- received 170.9 inches of snow, which translates into 60.6 inches more than normal. Buffalo, N.Y., saw 141.1 inches of snow this season, 48.6 inches above its normal, but 58.3 inches below a 19-year-old record.

West Virginia also took part of the brunt of the snow season. The total weight of the snow which fell there was 14.6 billion tons, considering that Elkins, W.Va. (136.6 inches), and Charleston, W.Va. (110.2 inches), set new all-time records.

Approximately 146.8 billion tons of snow fell on the 12-state Northeast region, according to the center. That's 293.6 trillion pounds. In all, Maine came in a distant second behind New York at 29 billion tons, followed by Pennsylvania at 27.3 billion tons. Even Connecticut endured some 3.5 billion tons of snow.

To arrive at the snow weight, DeGaetano noted the average snowfall amount at each station to obtain the seasonal average for the state. Assuming 10 inches of snow contains 1 inch of water, DeGaetano multiplied each state snowfall average by 0.1 to obtain the depth of water that would cover the state -- if the seasonal snowfall were melted.

Multiplying the state's water depth by the area of the state, DeGaetano obtained the water volume for each state. Knowing that 1 cubic centimeter weighs 1 gram, he converted the water volume into snow weight.