Commuters were engulfed in snow as the train pulled into the station in New York. Picture: YouTube/Nick Colvin

Commuters endured a frosty reception on Wednesday when an arriving train blasted the platform with a tsunami of snow in Rhinecliff, New York.

Dramatic video captured by waiting passengers showed the train barrelling over the snow-covered tracks in the aftermath of Winter Storm Stella, engulfing passengers.

Some commuters were shown taking mobile phone video of the spectacle instead of ducking for cover.

“Train moving faster than usual plus fresh snow from Stella resulted in a more spectacular arrival than expected,” Nick Colvin wrote underneath a slow-motion video he posted on YouTube.

Videos of the giant snow shower made the rounds on social media, with some passengers saying the train was approaching the station too fast for the conditions.

But railroad expert Gus Ubaldi told NBC New York the train appeared to be travelling at regular speed in order to clear the snow off the track.

However he said commuters shouldn’t have been allowed to stand so close to the tracks.

Commuters filmed the train as it arrived at the station. Picture: YouTube/Nick ColvinSource:Supplied

The train made a dramatic entrance as it rolled into the New York station. Picture: YouTube/Nick ColvinSource:Supplied

It’s a wipe-out!. Picture: YouTube/Nick ColvinSource:Supplied

Winter Storm Stella was expected to be the worst winter storm of the season, at least in New York City.

Stella had been forecast to dump up to 60 centimetres of snow in parts of the Big Apple and whip the area with winds of up to 95 kilometres per hour, causing white-out conditions.

Firefighters dig out fire hydrants in Portland, Maine after a major snowstorm. Picture: AP Photo/Robert F. BukatySource:AP

Officials warned 50 million people on Monday to prepare, flights were cancelled, schools were shut down and a state of emergency was declared in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland.

But on Tuesday, the National Weather Service revised down its predicted snow accumulation for America’s largest city, saying the storm had moved across the coast and was introducing more water air.