In the last two weeks of May, a spike in warm air recorded in the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis has pushed May to the hottest such month on record, and by a good margin. It is likely that May 2014 will be observed as among the hottest such months on record when looking at the major temperature indices. This leads me to think that on NASA's GISS Land-Ocean Temperature Index (L-OTI), for instance, with a 1951-1980 base period, a May 2014 reading of between 0.65 and 0.75 C is rather likely. The NCEP/NCAR data with a record warmest May suggests it to be on the higher end (perhaps between 0.70 and 0.75 C).
Whether May is on the lower end (0.65) or higher end (0.75), it is my prediction that 2014 will have had the 2nd warmest March-April-May (MAM) period on record, behind only 2010. Since NCEP/NCAR is not perfect, I know this kind of analysis is sort of like putting the cart before the horse. But to at least document how good of a fit my presumptions are compared to other sets, it will give me a sense of how useful it is to continue using the Reanalysis tool. So far, it is a sound predictor.