Last week's winter storms brought some respite to several drought-affected regions in the United States.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor's latest update, the two weather systems of rain and snow that moved across the country in recent days allowed for the nation's wide swath of parched land to contract slightly to 51.44 percent with considerable improvements in the Southeast.

Moreover, the first day of 2013 marked "the widest coverage of snow the U.S. has seen in the past ten years," with 67 percent of the contiguous United States coated in white, according to AccuWeather.

But is it enough to restore the necessary moisture levels?

During what the Department of Agriculture has cataloged as the most severe and extensive drought in at least 25 years, farmers in the Midwest have been keeping a worried eye in the sky, as considerable more snow and rain are needed to ready the soil in time for spring planting.

"The overall spatial footprint of the drought is staying pretty constant, so that drought is just lying there dormant," said climatologist Mark Svoboda of the National Drought Mitigation Center.

Areas already under conditions of exceptional drought, such as parts of Texas and New Mexico, further expanded to 5.64 percent of the country, after missing out on the much-needed precipitation.

"The fact that it got a little better in the overall number but increased on the more severe categories is a reflection of the continued dryness in the Central Plains region," said Svoboda. "Even though it's a drier time of year, we just haven't received any beneficial moisture."

What's more, experts say it would take an extraordinary amount of snow or rain to put a major dent in a drought this widespread and severe.

Looking ahead, according to the Drought Monitor, weather conditions are expected to dry up across the country in the upcoming days.

"When you look outside and you do get a little rain or some snow and [it] sticks around because there is not a lot of evaporation, the fact is, the drought is just sleeping. It's not going away," Svoboda said.

"Your best bet is that we are locked in this thing until spring comes around," he said.