The U.S. Census Bureau said today that, based on the latest (2:00 p.m. EDT) projected path of Hurricane Jeanne, an estimated 15.3 million residents of Florida could be affected by the storm’s hurricane and tropical storm force winds.

A hurricane watch is in effect from Florida City to St. Augustine and is expected to make landfall within the next 24-36 hours. Hurricane Jeanne will be the fourth hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic season to strike Florida. Hurricane Ivan battered the Florida panhandle less than two weeks ago, and has so far affected more than 162.6 million people in over 16 states across the United States over its life span.

According to the National Hurricane Center at 2:00 p.m. EDT, Jeanne packed maximum sustained winds of near 100 MPH, making it a Category 2 hurricane. Hurricane-force winds extend 45 miles from the center of the storm, with tropical storm force winds extending outward 150 miles.

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Note: The above calculations are based on projections of the storm’s path from the National Hurricane Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service and Census 2000 counts contained in LandView 6, a mapping software program. These data do not present a full picture of the seasonal population increases of coastal or other tourist areas.