diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
index 0563bd06867..43f93db0c6d 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ def configure_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
 
         args = ['--with-mpi={0}'.format(spec['mpi'].prefix)]
+        args.append('SEQ_CC=%s' % spack_cc)
 
         if '+fpic' in spec:
             args.extend(['CFLAGS=-fPIC', 'CXXFLAGS=-fPIC', 'FFLAGS=-fPIC'])