"It was so cold in New York that I saw a dog stuck…

“It was so cold in New York that I saw a dog stuck to a fire hydrant” is a classic joke about the weather. The joke has been cited in print since at least 1986 and may have been popularized by late night television comedian Johnny Carson (1925-2005).

Google Groups: net.jokes
It’s sooo cold
Mark Fohl
1/16/86
It’s so cold there was a dog stuck to a fire hydrant in my neighborhood.

Google Groups: rec.humor
request for “so cold I had to…” jokes
Doug Hewko
1/3/94
(...)
I heard the following (or a close proximity thereof) a few years ago on the Tonight Show…when Johnny Carson was hosting….

It was so cold this morning that I saw a dog stuck to a fire hydrant.

Google Groups: rec.humor
Canonical List Of Language Humor 3/5
Nuke The Unborn Gay Baby Whales For God
4/12/94
(...)
== WAYS TO TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER ==============================================
-= The weather is so cold that… =-= 1 =——————————————————

I had to go up and break the smoke off the chimney.
I had to jump start my wife/husband.
I had two feet of ice in my bed…my wive’s.
I put the meat in the freezer to defrost.
I saw a dog stuck to a fire hydrant.

Google Books
Moose Dropping and Other Crimes Against Nature:
Funny Stories from Alaska
By Tom Brennan
Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press
2000
Pg. 16:
It’s so cold in Alaska that the fire department sends crews around to break frozen dogs away from fire hydrants.

Twitter
Mark Edwards
‏@markedwards
Its SO cold! I just saw a dog stuck to a fire hydrant. (thanks Henny Youngman)
3:50 PM - 21 Dec 2008

Twitter
Lewis Hale
‏@T_Bagga
@jimmyfallon it’s so cold my dog got his red rocket stuck to a fire hydrant trying to piss #AwwwHellSnow
11:02 PM - 20 Jan 2016
Bentonville, AR