CALIFORNIA - Recent weather reports show that the start of the new year has brought the second-largest snowpack in the last two decades to California’s Sierra, and more snow is expected to hit the mountain range over the next few days.

According to The Orange County Register, several feet of snow is expected to accumulate by early next week as yet another storm system plows in from the Pacific, bringing colder temperatures and additional rain to the Bay Area on Monday night.

With this oncoming storm bringing increased precipitation to California’s growing regions, the source notes that it is too soon to declare an end to the state’s ongoing drought.

“It’s just far too early to tell whether or not these storms will have an impact on the drought,” Andrew Schwartz, Lead Scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory near Donner Summit, told the source. “We were in this exact same spot last year. We were way above average, and then the faucet shut off in January through March.”

Stay tuned to ANUK as we continue to track California’s snowpack and other key weather updates.