Though the winter storm system has passed through Colorado and is headed for the East Coast, frigid, absolutely bone-chilling weather is lingering in Denver this morning. According to the National Weather Service, the city nearly broke its record-low temperature with a -16 degree reading this morning (the record is -20, notes 9News). It was so cold yesterday that Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, started signing copies of her book in Colorado Springs more than an hour ahead of time to give people waiting in the cold a break, writes the Gazette. Meanwhile, in Denver, Bernadette Ortega tells The Denver Post she had slept on the street for the past three nights of freezing temperatures in a cardboard box outside a church downtown. Although the number of solo homeless women in the metro area has risen three-fold since 2007, to 1,606, there are just 241 shelter beds available to them. Some women may receive vouchers to stay in a motel, but if they don’t meet certain criteria, they must fend for themselves. Up to 35 women did just that last night, according to the Post.