I'M GETTING rather hacked off these days listening to the weather reports on TV.

And the reason is that almost every weather presenter seems to feel it necessary to advise us on what to wear and what to do in certain weather conditions, rather than just give us the forecast.

I remember the good old days when we turned on the telly for the latest weather report and were greeted by the likes of Michael Fish or John Kettley.

These guys kept it simple and offered us only the weather forecast.

"Tomorrow, it will be sunny in the morning with a touch of cloud forming which will turn to rain later in the afternoon, and overnight the temperature is expected to plummet to 8 degrees," they would say.

Simple.

Nowadays, the weather presenters just can't help but offer unnecessary advice and information.

"Due to the unusually mild temperatures," explained one, "Daddy Long legs are appearing early this year."

"I'll sleep better tonight knowing that," I thought to myself.

Yesterday, a stylish weather girl suggested: "We are heading towards a spell of cold weather," she then continued to advise, "It's time to look out your scarves and gloves and turn up the heating.

"It looks like winter coats for us all from now on."

Like I would never have worked that one out by myself!

During the cold spell last winter the advice was relentless. "It's dipping below freezing and you know what that means."

Well, yes, if you let me work it out for myself I'm sure I do.

"Remember to check you've topped up your vehicle with antifreeze," suggested one.

"It's expected to drop to minus 4 degrees overnight so you may need to factor in that little bit of extra time tomorrow morning to scrape your car windscreens."

Argh... really!

The advice is never ending. Take a brolly. Put on sunscreen. Wear lots of layers. Don't venture out unless it's an emergency. This is a day to stay in bed. And, it's time to winterize your vehicle. Eh? The list is endless.

Just give us the weather forecast, that's all we want.

But is it?

I was surprised to come across a host of websites which are set up to give us seven day suggestions on what to wear depending on the weather forecast where we live.

One of them read. "You wake up late, with little time to prepare before going to work. You have no idea what the weather is like outside, and don't have the time to look it up and co-ordinate your clothes accordingly. If a heat wave comes and you are not prepared, it could be a disaster, but we can suggest the perfect outfit."

The perfect outfit! How on earth can they suggest the perfect outfit?

Some of us are meno-pausal with fluctuating temperatures from minute to minute, never mind over seven days.

Some of us are skinny and some not so skinny.

Some are hairy and some are not.

Some have good circulation and some don't.

Basically, keeping warm or cool seems to be largely down to a mix of our shape, size, age and gender.

However, there is also an iPhone app which apparently uses real-time weather data to pull the perfect outfits from our wardrobes to match our current weather conditions.

USERS snap self-portraits of their favourite looks, share the outfits on social networks, and the app attaches a temperature stamp to the photo.

If the picture pops up showing an umbrella and a jacket - that apparently is what we should wear.

What a blinking palaver, I reckon. All that fuss before you leave the house in the morning.

Gone are the days when your mum would just stick her head out of the front door in the morning for a few seconds before bellowing upstairs. "It's snowing. Put on two pairs of tights and an extra pair of knickers"!

Discussing the weather with my friends we agreed - it certainly is a subject we all comment on.

Then one of my friends added. "Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of people couldn't start a conversation if it wasn't for the changing weather".

True. We decided. Very True.