Hurricane Rita was slowly winding down as it approached the Louisiana and Texas shoreline on September 23, 2005, still a dangerous Category 3 storm but down from the near-record-breaking Category 5 hurricane it was on September 21. At its core, Rita had sustained winds of 205 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour) and stronger gusts. A mere two days earlier, the storm packed wind speeds of 275 kilometers per hour (170 miles per hour), making it, at the time, the fourth most powerful storm ever measured. In this image, the outer bands of the storm already extend well over Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, affecting many regions devastated by Hurricane Katrina on August 29. Over the Gulf of Mexico, Rita's well-defined eye has clouded over. This closed or "dirty" eye shape is typical of a storm that has reached its peak strength and is slackening.