a stationary front in the gulf of mexico developed an upper-level circulation. by july 28, the system organized enough to be classified as tropical depression four. despite favorable conditions, the depression tracked westward without significantly intensifying, due to the poor organization of the storm itself. as the depression curved west-northwestward, it began to strengthen and was upgraded to tropical storm dean while located only 70 mi (110 km) from the texas coastline on july 30. the system made landfall early on july 31 near freeport with winds of 45 mph (75 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 999 mbar (hpa; 29.5 inhg). shortly thereafter, dean weakened back to a tropical depression. the storm continued to slowly weaken as it moved northwestward, dissipating on august 2 near the texas–oklahoma border.