Chandigarh, Jan. 14 -- A day after the city recorded the season's lowest minimum temperature of 3.3degC, the mercury slid further, dropping to 2.8degC during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. This is the lowest that the night temperature has gone in two years - the previous such low was recorded on January 16, 2024, when the minimum had dropped to 2.7degC. At 2.8degC, Chandigarh was colder than Shimla which recorded a minimum of 6.6degC and Dharmshala, where the mercury settled at 3.2degC. The city was, however, warmer than Manali, which recorded a low of 2.6degC. Chandigarh's minimum temperature was 4.1 degrees below normal, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said. IMD Chandigarh director Surender Paul said that the minimum temperature will remain on similar lines on Thursday, while it will start improving from January 16 when a fresh Western Disturbance starts affecting the region. Tuesday's condition was classified as cold wave, as per the IMD's criteria for this region. While cold waves are usually declared when the minimum temperature slides below 10degC and is 4.5 to 6.4degC below normal, it can also be declared when the absolute value of minimum temperature is 4degC or below. When the absolute value of minimum temperature is 2degC or below, a severe cold wave is declared. Due to the sunny conditions during the day, the maximum temperature rose from 14.3degC on Monday to 15.2degC on Tuesday, 3.2 degrees below normal. The foggy conditions led to nine flights being cancelled and 30 being delayed at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport on Tuesday. The cancelled departures included IndiGo flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur and Hyderabad. The three cancelled arrivals included two from Jaipur and one from Delhi. Several major trains, including the Vande Bharat and Shatabdi express, also reported delays due to the fog. The Ajmer-Chandigarh Vande Bharat (20977), which departed Ajmer Junction an hour behind schedule, arrived at Chandigarh railway station at 3.56 pm with a total delay of an hour and 11 minutes. The Kalka Shatabdi (12011) reached the city at 12.53 pm, lagging behind by an hour and 13 minutes. The evening Kalka Shatabdi Express (12005) was rescheduled and departed New Delhi at 6.15 pm. It maintained a delay of approximately an hour and 30 minutes as it approached Chandigarh. The Lucknow-Chandigarh Express (15011) ended its journey at 4.11 pm, seeing a delay of an hour and 11 minutes....