Or perhaps just a lack of consistency.
We shall see. The last couple summers, especially this one, have eased off the heat a bit (and no, PDX still seeing warm/dry months does not disprove that). Can't rule out that precip field breaking down some going forward as well. In the past, regional climates have been ruled by short term phase cycles more than anything else, I don't think AGW just eradicates that.
Cognitive dissonance.
And yeah.... it's pretty sad. 1997 and 2015 both had some real juice to work with around this time. It's a testament to how far gone we are when an even stronger Nino seems incapable of breaking through the 2020s Mediterranean warm season precip force field that now fully encases us. The ugly truth is that even our 2010s climo feels increasingly dated and out of reach.