 On September 20, a low pressure area developed within the same frontal boundary that had curved Hurricane Carrie towards the Azores. Rapidly developing, the system was classified as a tropical depression at 1200 UTC later that day, southwest of Bermuda. Initially, the depression was ill-defined and was slowly moving to the southwest. The following day, the attached cold front dissipated, allowing for the system to intensify. The system was subsequently upgraded a tropical storm by September 22, following a reconnaissance flight into the system which reported a minimum pressure of 1001 mbar (hPa; 29.56 inHg). At the time, however, Frieda was a small system with minimal shower activity. Gradually strengthening, Frieda reached an initial peak intensity with winds of 60 mph (95 km / h) later that day. Following the split of an upper-level ridge to the north, Frieda recurved towards the northeast the next day. As it sped to the northeast, a westerly shortwave progressed eastward, enhancing environmental conditions. As a result, the tropical storm began to quickly strengthen. By 1200 UTC on September 25, Frieda attained hurricane strength, and reached peak intensity with winds of 80 mph (130 km / h) and a minimum pressure of 992 mbar (hPa; 29.30 inHg), as reported by the Canadian merchant ship Irvingbrook. However, a cold front associated with the shortwave encountered the hurricane, which caused it to transition into an extratropical cyclone on September 26. Frieda's extratropical remnants later passed over Newfoundland. Though Frieda remained far from any land masses, a peak rainfall amount of 3.26 in (83 mm) was measured in Bermuda.
