diff --git a/.github/workflows/cmake.yml b/.github/workflows/cmake.yml
index fa04163683c..d483408d80d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cmake.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cmake.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ jobs:
       CC: mpicc
       FC: mpifort
       CPPFLAGS: "-I/usr/include -I/usr/local/include"
+      CPPFLAGS: "-I/usr/include -I/usr/local/include -I/home/runner/pnetcdf/include"
+      LDFLAGS: "-L/home/runner/pnetcdf/lib"
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
@@ -22,23 +24,31 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         sudo apt-get install netcdf-bin libnetcdf-dev doxygen graphviz wget gfortran libjpeg-dev libz-dev openmpi-bin libopenmpi-dev 
 
-    - name: pnetcdf build
+    - name: cache-pnetcdf
+      id: cache-pnetcdf
+      uses: actions/cache@v2
+      with:
+        path: ~/pnetcdf
+        key: pnetcdf-${{ runner.os }}-1.12.1
+
+    - name: build-pnetcdf
+      if: steps.cache-pnetcdf.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
       run: |
-        wget https://parallel-netcdf.github.io/Release/pnetcdf-1.12.1.tar.gz 
+        set -x
+        wget https://parallel-netcdf.github.io/Release/pnetcdf-1.12.1.tar.gz &> /dev/null
         tar -xzvf pnetcdf-1.12.1.tar.gz
-        ls -l
         pushd pnetcdf-1.12.1
-        ./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-shared --disable-cxx
+        ./configure --prefix=/home/runner/pnetcdf --enable-shared --disable-cxx
         make
         sudo make install
         popd
 
     - name: cmake build
       run: |
-        find /usr -name libnetcdf.so
+        set -x
         mkdir build
         cd build
-        cmake -Wno-dev -DNetCDF_C_LIBRARY=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libnetcdf.so -DNetCDF_C_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/include -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr -DPIO_HDF5_LOGGING=On -DPIO_USE_MALLOC=On -DPIO_ENABLE_LOGGING=On -DPIO_ENABLE_TIMING=Off ..
+        cmake -Wno-dev -DNetCDF_C_LIBRARY=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libnetcdf.so -DNetCDF_C_INCLUDE_DIR=/usr/include -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH='/usr;/home/runner/pnetcdf' -DPIO_HDF5_LOGGING=On -DPIO_USE_MALLOC=On -DPIO_ENABLE_LOGGING=On -DPIO_ENABLE_TIMING=Off ..
         make VERBOSE=1
         make tests VERBOSE=1
         ctest -VV