A burst of heavy snow this afternoon nudged Boston over the threshold the city needed to break its all-time snowfall record. The airport reported 2.9 inches of snow at 7:00 PM EDT, bringing the seasonal total to 108.6 inches, or one inch above the previous all-time record set in 1995-1996. Snowfall records in Boston date back to 1936.

Almost all of the snow in Boston fell during a 30-day period between the middle of January and the middle of February, dumping more than 90 inches of snow on the typically winter-hearty city. A recent warm-up and slowdown in the conga line of winter storms put breaking the record in doubt, but the joyful Tweet from NWS Boston this evening sealed the deal on this terrible, godforsaken winter: it was your worst in recorded history. Hooray.

For some perspective, the most snow ever seen in New York City/Central Park in one season was 74.6 inches back in 1995-1996. Philadelphia's snowiest season was the winter of 2009-2010, which dumped 78.7 inches on the city. Boston's record has nothing on Bangor, Maine, though: the latter once saw 181.9 inches of snow during the winter of 1962-1963.

[Image: AP]

You can follow the author on Twitter or send him an email.