diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-cd-workflow.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-cd-workflow.yml
index 7707fcfd..235bd30c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-cd-workflow.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-cd-workflow.yml
@@ -86,6 +86,13 @@ jobs:
         restore-keys: |
           ${{ runner.os }}-pip-
 
+    # no windows wheel for Python 3.6 cftime 1.3.1
+    # https://github.com/Unidata/cftime/issues/224
+    - name: Install cftime 1.3.0 (${{ runner.os }})
+      if: startsWith(runner.os, 'Windows') && endsWith(matrix.python-version, '3.6')
+      run: |
+        pip install --upgrade --user pip wheel
+        pip install cftime==1.3.0
 
     - name: Install test dependencies
       run: |
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b27cfe46..2a1b45be 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
 ]
 REQUIREMENTS_INSTALL = [
-    "cftime==1.3.0",
+    "cftime",
     "pandas-datapackage-reader",
     "f90nml",
     "PyYAML",