diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncl/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncl/package.py
index bf87aec4d52..19a0631e178 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncl/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncl/package.py
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ class Ncl(Package):
     # support for netcdf-4, but the script assumes that hdf5 is compiled with
     # szip support. We introduce this restriction with the following dependency
     # statement.
-    depends_on('hdf5+szip')
+    depends_on('hdf5@:1.10+szip')
     depends_on('szip')
 
     # ESMF is only required at runtime (for ESMF_regridding.ncl)