by the morning of july 13, the thunderstorms moved closer to the center of circulation, as upper-level outflow expanded in all directions. the nhc estimated that barry attained category 1 hurricane status by 12:00 utc that day, concluding that barry was producing a small area of hurricane-force winds based on observations from the hurricane hunters, doppler radar wind estimates of 75 mph (121 km/h), and recorded sustained winds of 72 mph (116 km/h) at eugene island oil field. simultaneously, the storm reached its peak intensity, with a minimum central pressure of 991 millibars (29.3 inhg). at 18:00 utc that day, barry made landfall as a category 1 hurricane on intracoastal city, louisiana, before weakening to tropical storm status. this made barry the fourth tropical cyclone recorded making landfall as a hurricane on louisiana in the month of july.