Tropical depression forms off Mexico’s Pacific coast, first of the 2009 hurricane season

Season’s 1st tropical depression forms in Pacific

MEXICO CITY — The first tropical depression of the Pacific hurricane season is approaching the coast of Mexico.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the depression was centered about 215 miles south-southwest of the coastal city of Mazatlan at 5 a.m. Pacific time.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 35 mph. Forecasters say the depression could strengthen to a tropical storm sometime Friday with wind speeds of 39 mph or more. The center of the storm is expected to near the Mexican coast Saturday.

The depression was moving toward the north-northeast at about 12 mph.

Mexican authorities issued a tropical storm warning for the Islas Marias, a group of islands housing a prison facility about 87 miles off the Pacific coast, as well as a tropical storm watch for the Pacific coast from Topolobampo south to El Roblito.