html_url,issue_url,id,node_id,user,created_at,updated_at,author_association,body,reactions,performed_via_github_app,issue
https://github.com/pydata/xarray/issues/1849#issuecomment-489164504,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1849,489164504,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDQ4OTE2NDUwNA==,2448579,2019-05-03T16:51:40Z,2019-05-03T16:51:40Z,MEMBER,"Because it's set in your input file. Both example files in this thread have `_Storage = 'contiguous'` set on all variables but the dimensions are not unlimited, so these files are compliant. Here's the output of `ncdump -sh sample.nc` (second comment in this thread)

```
netcdf sample {
dimensions:
	y = 6 ;
variables:
	float x(y) ;
		x:_FillValue = NaNf ;
		x:_Storage = ""contiguous"" ;
		x:_Endianness = ""little"" ;
	int64 y(y) ;
		y:_Storage = ""contiguous"" ;
		y:_Endianness = ""little"" ;

// global attributes:
		:_NCProperties = ""version=1,netcdflibversion=4.4.1.1,hdf5libversion=1.8.18"" ;
		:_SuperblockVersion = 0 ;
		:_IsNetcdf4 = 1 ;
		:_Format = ""netCDF-4"" ;
```

When you ask xarray to write out an unlimited dimension, it doesn't delete `encoding['contiguous']` and then netCDF4 raises an error (I think).

It's probable that the underlying software you're using to write has probably changed versions and is setting it by default. You can check this by comparing the output of `ncdump -sh file.nc` on cheyenne and your local machine

If this is right, the solution would be either
a) delete `encoding['contiguous']` if it is True when asked to write out an unlimited dimension.
b) raise a warning and ask the user to do the deletion before writing.

My preference is for (a).","{""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,290572700
https://github.com/pydata/xarray/issues/1849#issuecomment-488870732,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1849,488870732,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDQ4ODg3MDczMg==,2448579,2019-05-02T23:44:00Z,2019-05-02T23:44:00Z,MEMBER,does ncdump -sh show whether contiguous is true?,"{""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,290572700
https://github.com/pydata/xarray/issues/1849#issuecomment-488843571,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1849,488843571,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDQ4ODg0MzU3MQ==,2448579,2019-05-02T21:44:29Z,2019-05-02T21:44:29Z,MEMBER,@jmccreight Are you up for sending in a PR to raise an informative error message?,"{""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,290572700
https://github.com/pydata/xarray/issues/1849#issuecomment-366288761,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1849,366288761,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDM2NjI4ODc2MQ==,2443309,2018-02-16T16:41:03Z,2018-02-16T16:41:03Z,MEMBER,"@markelg - thanks for digging into this a bit. Based on what you're saying, I think we need to raise an informative error here. ","{""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,290572700
https://github.com/pydata/xarray/issues/1849#issuecomment-361468306,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1849,361468306,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDM2MTQ2ODMwNg==,2443309,2018-01-30T03:47:33Z,2018-01-30T03:47:33Z,MEMBER,Thanks for the report. This seems like a bug to me and I'm frankly not sure why it isn't working. I'll look into it more.,"{""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,290572700