​Smart coverage of the ongoing hurricane season means reporting not just people stories, but numbers stories too. This week’s TipSheet explains and offers half a dozen metrics, including pressure, width, surge and rainfall, to better track these extreme storms. Plus, should there be a “Category 6?”

A new book on the Gulf of Mexico earns kudos for the balance and passion of its tone, as well as for its historical storytelling about this important ecosystem and the overfishing, oil spills, hurricanes, explosive growth and poor land-use decisions it faces. BookShelf reviews Jack Davis’ “The Gulf.”

This is a decisive time on the energy and environment front, with challenges and confrontation expected over the consummation of the Trump deregulatory agenda. Our second annual issues guide provides a roadmap for covering the big stories. The guide's formal launch took place at an SEJ event in Washington, D.C. [30] on January 26. If you missed it, the webcast is archived here [31].

Floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other human-caused disasters made 2017 a hard year to beat. But environmental journalists would do well to be prepared for 2018. This week's TipSheet explains why predicting weather-related disasters may not be as hard you think, and provides resources to get reporters ready. 

Almost a dozen investigations are underway at the U.S. EPA and the Interior Department, including of unusual travel, private sector connections and staff/advisory panel moves. This week's TipSheet runs down the probes in detail, and offers resources for coverage of developments in 2018.

The threat of failing dams can prompt worries over lost lives and property, as witness hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. But dam failure is a problem environmental journalists can get ahead of, and the latest TipSheet helps you get ready — with questions to ask, sources to pursue and resources to bone up on. Plus, more hurricane coverage resources [48].