Rita was 895---Once in the Gulf of Mexico, Rita passed over the extremely warm Loop Current during the midday hours of September 21, enabling continued strengthening. As a result, the hurricane's wind field significantly expanded and the storm's barometric pressure quickly fell.[4] By 18:00 UTC that day, Rita attained Category 5 hurricane intensity,[13] the highest category on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale.[14] Rita's intensification phase was accompanied by an unprecedentedly abundant outbreak of lightning within the storm's eyewall.[15] Favorable conditions allowed for additional strengthening, and at 0300 UTC on September 22, Rita reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (285 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 895 mbar (hPa; 26.43 inHg), making it the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico and up until that point the third strongest hurricane in Atlantic history.[4][16][17] At the time, it was located 310 mi (500 km) south of the Mississippi River Delta.[4]