>>> The Weather Service held a public forum Tuesday to discuss the proposal and answer questions. When asked about the investment in computing infrastructure that would be required for these limits to not be necessary, agency officials said a one-time cost of about $1.5 million could avert rate limits. The NOAA budget for fiscal 2020 was $5.4 billion.
Buchanan, however, stated the actual cost to address the issue would be higher because the $1.5 million “would comprise just one component of what has to be a multifaceted solution.”
The officials at the forum also said that senior management at the Weather Service was aware of the relatively small cost of addressing the issue but that the agency faced “competing priorities.” <<<
So, the cost to fix would be peanuts, but it's "not a priority". Sounds like pretty typical corporate bureaucracy against improving infrastructure and efficiency until they're forced to.
Using their numbers, it'd still only something like .2% of their budget, if the cost was 10x the $1.5m figure.