diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 98656c17d0..3a62bcd4cc 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -78,7 +78,9 @@ answer-testing = "yt.utilities.answer_testing.framework:AnswerTesting"
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 # some generic, reusable constraints on optional-deps
 HDF5 = ["h5py>=3.1.0,!=3.12.0; platform_system=='Windows'"]  # see https://github.com/h5py/h5py/issues/2505
-netCDF4 = ["netCDF4!=1.6.1,>=1.5.3"]  # see https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf4-python/issues/1192
+netCDF4 = [
+    "netCDF4!=1.6.1,>=1.5.3; python_version < '3.13'" # see https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf4-python/issues/1192
+]
 Fortran = ["f90nml>=1.1"]
 
 # frontend-specific requirements