Punxsutawney Phil says it will be an early spring this year. But do people really believe the world’s most famous rodent meteorologist? YNN’s Crystal Cranmore tells us beyond a shadow of a doubt, the furry forecaster is an American Icon.

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TIOGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- Meet Punxsutawney Phill. He stands about a foot and a half tall and comes out of his burrow on February 2nd of each year after a long winter’s sleep.

Legend has it if Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. Thousands flocked to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to find out spring is coming early!

"The bottom line is is that this animal can live great lengths of time and can predict what the weather is going to be," Scott MacDonald said.

Scott MacDonald, the Executive Director of the Waterman Conservation Education Center in Apalachin, has been studying animals for years.

MacDonald said, "There are gregarious among their own group they do protect each other, they great swimmers by the way and they’re phenomenal climbers. We’ve see where they climb trees and keep an eye on each other."

But do those attributes make groundhogs a good forecaster?

While Phil predicted an early spring, not everyone is buying it.

Leo McHugh said, “I don’t really think they have any special powers, but they know if it’s warm, cold.”

Maureen Lier said, “I just think they oughta leave the poor guy alone, let him sleep.”

So whether or not you believe it to be true, it’s still fun to find out whether Punxsutawney will be right.