Erik Salna

Education outreach has been a career focus for Erik, including the annual NOAA Hurricane Hunter Awareness Tour, the Wall of Wind Mitigation Challenge High School Competition, Wall of Wind Museum Exhibit, NOAA P-3 Hurricane Hunter Museum Exhibit, Hurricane Andrew Museum Exhibit, and Eye of the Storm Museum Event.

Before FIU, Erik worked at Miami based America's Emergency Network (AEN) and the non-profit Hurricane Warning at the Disaster Survival House, in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Erik also has over 25 years of experience as a broadcast meteorologist, providing live continuous coverage for hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding. “One of my most exciting career experiences was cloud seeding thunderstorms in Greece.”

Erik served on the AMS Board for Broadcast Meteorology which developed the AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal for television. Erik also spearheaded the Save Our Weather Office Campaign in Fort Wayne, IN, which resulted in Congressional response to fund operations of local National Weather Service Offices across the country.

Erik was inducted into the Meteorologist Hall of Fame in 2020 by the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center. In addition, he was recognized in 2016 as an exemplary NOAA Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, nominated for 2016 National Weatherperson of the Year, received an Excellence in Media Award from the Press Club of Southeast Texas in 2004, a Bronze Telly Award in 1998, the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference Media Award in 1994 and TV Broadcaster of the Year by the National Weather Association in 1989.

Erik is a Full Member of the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association and earned a MS in Meteorology from Northern Illinois University and a BS in Physical Geography with an emphasis in Meteorology from the University of Illinois.