that fueled the storm, on December 11, 2014 Late on November 30, 2014, a weak extratropical disturbance developed at the southern end of a cold front, to the northwest of
Midway Island, near the
International Date Line. During the next few days, the system slowly developed a circulation and began to organize, while moving westward, behind a system that was already impacting the West Coast. On December 2, the storm system weakened, as it interacted with a much more powerful
Aleutian low over the
Gulf of Alaska, which steered the system into the northeast Pacific. On December 3, the system slowly began to restrengthen. On December 4, the system stalled off the West Coast, to the south of
Alaska, as a ridge of high pressure built up over the northeast Pacific. During the next several days, the system gradually absorbed other incoming storms and began to rapidly intensify, attaining a minimum low pressure of on December 9. As the high pressure system off the coast of California began to break down, the storm system began bearing down on the West Coast. On December 10, the system began to impact California, even though the system was slowly beginning to weaken. Due to the anticipated flooding and other impacts, many schools across California, particularly in
Northern and
Central California, were closed in advance of the storm. On December 11, the system moved ashore in
British Columbia, but then the storm's center of circulation degenerated, and the system's low pressure center split, with the new low pressure center becoming the dominant low off the coast of
Northern California, later on December 11. Several hours later, after moving northward, the low pressure center split into 2 again, when the storm began to move ashore in the West Coast. The massive winter storm dropped large amounts of rain across California, and the system also brought powerful winds to parts of the state. The ensuing downpour triggered flash floods and power outages across the state. After moving inland, on December 12, the dominant low moved eastward across southwestern Canada, before being absorbed by the new low pressure center over
Reno, Nevada, although the storm weakened to a 1004 mbar system in the process. On the same day, the system spawned an
EF0 tornado 5 miles from downtown
Los Angeles, California, which was the first tornado that Los Angeles had experienced in 10 years. During the next day, the storm's center of circulation moved northeastward over the
Southwestern United States, before reaching the
Central United States on December 14. On December 15, the storm moved into the
Midwest region and began to re-intensify, developing an organized center of circulation to the southwest of the
Great Lakes. Late on December 15, the winter storm's outer rainbands began impacting the states in the
Eastern United States to the west of the
Appalachian Mountains. On December 16, the winter storm's center of circulation reached the Great lakes, and the system began dropping rain and snow in New England. The system also began to produce
lake-effect snow in the
Great Lakes region, and in parts of New England. On December 17, the system developed a secondary low over
New Jersey, at the end of an
occluded front, even as the main circulation continued to slowly move eastward. Later on the same day, the system's main circulation briefly stalled just north of
New York, while the secondary low continued to develop offshore. That day, rain from the storm in
Brooklyn, combined with a poor roof, lead to an
NBA game at
Barclays Center being delayed 30 minutes to clean up the mess. Late on December 17, the storm system's frontal band exited the New England, even as the secondary low became the dominant low in the system, to the east of
Maine. However, the main circulation continued to persist to the east of the Great Lakes, continuing to drop lake-effect snow across New England. On December 18, the secondary low fully absorbed the original low, and the system developed into a well-defined storm off the coast of New England, before moving over
Newfoundland. Afterwards, the storm slowly began to weaken, as it slowly continued moving northeastward. On December 19, the winter storm left North America, as the system began to accelerate towards the northeast. On December 20, the system was named
Freia by the
Free University of Berlin, while the storm system was situated to the south of
Greenland. On December 21, Freia underwent explosive intensification and became a
bomb cyclone, dropping 30 mbars within 34 hours, attaining a minimum low pressure of . On December 22, Freia weakened to a 970 mbar system, but went on to impact
Iceland, as well as parts of
Western Europe, before stalling just southeast of
Iceland. On December 23, Freia split into three systems, with the main storm weakening into a 980 mbar system to the southeast of
Iceland. On December 24, Freia moved slightly to the west and weakened to a 990 mbar system, while the other 2 fragments of the storm continued to accelerate eastward across
Norway,
Sweden, and
Finland. On December 25, Freia weakened to a 1005 mbar storm as it entered the
North Sea, and began to approach
Denmark. On December 26, Freia moved inland and began to accelerate southeastward, even as the storm weakened to a 1020 mbar system. On December 27, Freia slightly intensified to a 1010 mbar storm as it swept southeastward into the
Black Sea. On December 28, Freia was absorbed by another
extratropical cyclone to the north. ==Impact==