Miami ? A tropical storm watch was issued late Tuesday for parts of Texas and Mexico as a tropical depression formed in the central Gulf of Mexico.

At 10 p.m. CDT, the fifth depression of the Atlantic hurricane season was centered about 425 miles east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, and about 425 miles east of La Pesca, Mexico.

The depression is moving toward the northwest at nearly 10 mph. It was expected to turn west-northwest by late today.

The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for the Texas coast from Freeport southward. The government of Mexico has issued a tropical storm watch for the northwest coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Dean got a little stronger late Tuesday but still remained far from land, forecasters said.

At 10 p.m. CDT, the storm was centered about 1,295 miles east of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center.