Updated

Scientists say the devastating wildfires scorching Southern California offer a glimpse of a warmer and more fiery future.

In the past three months, at least three different studies and reports have warned that wildfires are getting bigger, that man-made climate change is to blame, and it's only going to get worse with more fires starting earlier in the year.

An April study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters said the area burned by the West's largest wildfires have increased by about 87,700 acres a year since 1984. Study main author Philip Dennison of the University of Utah said the areas that are burning the most are the driest and climate change is a main factor.

He said as the climate warms, there will be more fires.