UNUSUALLY HIGH temperatures hit Orange County on Wednesday (Shutterstock/Ed Connor).

Hotter-than-expected weather hit the West Orange County area – and much of Southern California – on Wednesday.

The forecast for today, put at 95, was blown up when the thermometer reached 100 and 103 in some areas of our communities.

A “Flex Alert” has been issued by the State of California, calling on residents to reduce the use of electricity between 4 and 9 p.m. to compensate for the heavy use of power by air conditioning systems.

Setting home thermostats at 78 degrees or higher is also requested.

The alert is also intended to be in place on Thursday.

Thursday’s forecast is for a daytime high of 89, with an overnight  low of 72 under mostly sunny skies. Friday’s highs should be similar at 89 (72), but the thermometer should bounce up to 94 and 96 over the weekend.

Along the coast, highs should be two to five degrees cooler.

Funeral plans for Gorbachev

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

The body of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the now-defunct Soviet Union, will lie in state on Saturday in Moscow and then be interred in a cemetery of a convent.

Gorbachev died on Tuesday at 91. He was known as the man who tried to bring reform to the Soviet Union, and ended up signing the documents that dissolved the sprawling Communist state in 1991.

What remained was the Russian Federation, led first by Boris Yeltsin and now by the increasingly autocratic Vladimir Putin.

In other news … Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, lost a special election to fill a vacant seat for the state’s only member of the House of Representatives.

The victor was Democrat Mary Peltola. Palin and Petola and two other candidates will be on the ballot again in November for the regular general election.

Sports: Angels win, Dodgers lose

UPDATE: Shohei Ohtani’s three-run home run gave the Los Angeles Angels  3-2 win over the New York Yankees in Anaheim. The homer was Ohtani’s 30th of the year and he made baseball history by being the first to  hit 30 home runs and win 10 games pitching in the same season.

Patrick Sandoval (5-9) pitched seven innings, giving up three hits and two earned runs. He struck out seven batters and walked two as the Halos took two of three from the AL East leaders.

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost 2-1 to the New York Mets on the road. Mookie Betts accounted for the only Dodger run with a home run, The Blue Crew had only three hits on the night.

Ty Anderson (13-3) worked seven innings, yielding eight hits and two runs. He struck out eight.