Yeah, that's a great distinction.
A common, recurring problem based on pulic safety vs. an extremely rare, isolated phenomenon based on scientific curiosity.
I live in Michigan, and we usually have winter around here. If some university wants to study a cool yet infrequent weather phenomenon to furhter the knowledge of science, then get a private grant.
That is the problem with dining at the Government trough, everyone has their pet project that they deem extremely important and nothing gets cut.
In Michigan, perhaps you have no problems with inaccurate snow forecasts. It's a huge problem in places that get only infrequent heavy snow.
This one project likely won't cure the problem of inaccurate weather forecasts. But weather forecasting is becoming more a science and less an art because of the cumulative knowledge from many studies.
They're studying tornadoes here in Oklahoma--and learning a great deal that applies to other weather issues in the process.