A large winter storm brought much-needed relief to parched California on Friday, boosting its reservoirs and dropping snow on the Sierra Nevada mountains, but the precipitation will not be enough to counter years of drought, the Associated Press reported.

California is in its third year of a drought that may break all records in the most populous U.S. state, where lawmakers on Friday were expected to send a series of relief proposals to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature, the AP reported.

President Barack Obama has also pledged millions of dollars in aid, according to the AP.

"Despite these recent storms, it would still have to rain every other day until around May to reach average precipitation totals, and even then we would still be in a drought due to the last two dry years," said Richard Stapler, spokesman for the California Natural Resources Agency, the AP reported.

Brown declared a drought emergency last month and has called on state officials to prepare for water shortages and develop solutions for potentially long-term dry weather, according to the AP.

Officials have said that California farmers facing drastic cutbacks in irrigation water are expected to idle half a million acres of cropland this year in a record production loss that could cause billions of dollars in economic damage, the AP reported.

The National Weather Service predicted moderate to heavy rain in Southern and Central California on Friday, slowing by Saturday afternoon, according to the AP.

The Service said Oxnard, a coastal city just north of Los Angeles, had the highest precipitation in all of the United States on Friday at 1.99 inches by 2:45 p.m., the AP reported.

Officials warned residents about possible mudslides in areas where the summer's wildfires left hillsides bare and unprotected by tree roots and bushes, according to the AP.

While the wet weather was welcome, rain and high winds caused road closures and power outages in Southern California and brought enough snow that tire chains were required for driving on mountain roads near the Nevada border, the AP reported.