In Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the world’s largest firework stretched across the skies on Saturday February 8th, 2020. The shell weighed in at 2,800 pounds and it was 62 inches in diameter.

It was shot over the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival off of a 26 foot steel tube in Emerald Mountain. The previous record holder was a 2,397 pound firework from 2018, which is 400 pounds lighter than the new record holder.

This was the second attempt at breaking the world record, the first being last year, but the shell exploded without it coming off the ground. However, it successfully shot out of the tube at 300 mph this time around; Christina Conlon of Guiness World Records witnessed and confirmed it as the world’s largest firework explosion.

However, setting off the firework wasn’t the most complicated thing about it. There was more than two feet of snow dumped on the mortar being used to launch the shell from a winter storm. The storm also made transporting the shell difficult. Tim Borden, the head of Steamboat Fireworks and this project, said that plowing the area was harder than setting it up.

“We invested hundreds of hours into this project,” Borden said, “and we anticipate that we will enjoy the satisfaction of this success for months to come.” The firework was a seven year work in progress and Colon said the team showed tenacity after coming back from last year’s failure.