Storm Ellen: Met Office wind warning for Hertfordshire, London and Essex

It comes a week after areas in Hertfordshire, London and west Essex experienced extreme flooding.

A yellow weather warning, which covers the whole of England and Wales, is in place until 6pm tonight.

The warning was extended yesterday to include the East and South East of England.

The strongest winds are expected in the early afternoon, from 1pm to 3pm, with gusts of up to 44mph.

The weather service is also forecasting some rain in late afternoon and the evening.

The Met Office's warning reads: "Strong winds on Friday are expected to lead to some travel disruption and perhaps some temporary power disruption."

It continues: "Strong southwesterly winds are expected to develop across much of England, Wales and southern Scotland during Friday. Wind gusts of 45-50 mph are expected fairly widely inland with gusts of 55-60 mph possible around coasts and over hills. Winds are then expected to gradually ease during late afternoon and evening."

Windy this afternoon with scattered blustery showers for many 🌦️🍃 pic.twitter.com/89vlKXw82H

— Met Office (@metoffice) August 21, 2020

Emergency services have urged the public to take extra care in the windy conditions, particularly along the coast where many people are enjoying August beach breaks.

Met Office meteorologist Emma Salter said it was “unusual” to have such stormy weather this time of year and emphasised its warnings were issued based on the potential impact of conditions.

She said: “If we had this set-up say in January or February we probably wouldn’t be issuing a warning, because 40, 50, 60 mphs on the coast isn’t going to do much damage.”

The yellow warning covers Hertfordshire, London and Essex. Photo: Met Office

But she added: “This time of year, when the trees are in full leaf they can be uprooted a lot more easily.”

Ms Salter continued: “Corona aside, there’s a lot of holidaymakers out, people in tents, it’s the weekend, there’s going to be a lot of traffic on the road, a lot of people camping… that’s why we’ve got the warning out.”

Ms Salter said forecasters are expecting “confused” weather today with a mixture of “on-off sunshine and showers” across the country.

“The showers are going to blow through quite quickly, so wherever it starts raining it’s going to be like a short, sharp, heavens open downpour and then it will roll away quite quickly,” she said.

Temperatures could reach a maximum of 24 or 25C in London.