The naturally formed ice lingam at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath has shrunk to one-tenth of its size after a rapid melt-down and may disappear in a few days if the mercury continues to rise, a top shrine official said on Wednesday.

“It (the ice lingam) has shrunk to one-tenth of the size and may last just several days if mercury continue to shoot up,” director of the holy cave N K Raina said.

Raina, however, said it is a normal phenomenon. Weather affects the shape and size of the ice lingam.
Raina, however, said that the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) expected over four lakh devotees this year despite the lingam not withstanding the weather vagaries. It has been witnessed in the past that the lingam does not exist on the Raksha Bandhan day, he added. The temperature in Srinagar has shown an upward trend in the past week.

 and Wednesday’s maximum temperature shot up to 32.5 degree celsius making it the hottest day of the season so far, the met office said.