diff --git a/src/lib/src/main/java/gov/usgs/earthquake/nshmp/netcdf/Netcdf.java b/src/lib/src/main/java/gov/usgs/earthquake/nshmp/netcdf/Netcdf.java
index 1a5b58cfec4b805dc0fa64b6d948a7eacb657e6e..75254d9e22a97380565043e3c4ae623cb16b2049 100644
--- a/src/lib/src/main/java/gov/usgs/earthquake/nshmp/netcdf/Netcdf.java
+++ b/src/lib/src/main/java/gov/usgs/earthquake/nshmp/netcdf/Netcdf.java
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ public abstract class Netcdf<T> implements Comparable<Netcdf<T>> {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("Path to Netcdf file [" + netcdfPath + "] does not exist");
     }
 
+    if (!netcdfPath.getFileName().toString().endsWith(".nc")) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("NetCDF file not found (.nc) " + netcdfPath);
+    }
+
     var reader = getNetcdfData(netcdfPath);
     netcdfData = reader.netcdfData();
     netcdfShape = reader.netcdfShape();