diff --git a/atlite/datasets/era5.py b/atlite/datasets/era5.py
index 04e88015..0d683af5 100644
--- a/atlite/datasets/era5.py
+++ b/atlite/datasets/era5.py
@@ -8,10 +8,12 @@
 https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/CKB/ERA5%3A+data+documentation
 """
 
+import io
 import logging
 import os
 import warnings
 import weakref
+import zipfile
 from tempfile import mkstemp
 
 import cdsapi
@@ -290,9 +292,9 @@ def retrieval_times(coords, static=False, monthly_requests=False):
     time = coords["time"].to_index()
     if static:
         return {
-            "year": str(time[0].year),
-            "month": str(time[0].month),
-            "day": str(time[0].day),
+            "year": [str(time[0].year)],
+            "month": [str(time[0].month).zfill(2)],
+            "day": [str(time[0].day).zfill(2)],
             "time": time[0].strftime("%H:00"),
         }
 
@@ -304,16 +306,18 @@ def retrieval_times(coords, static=False, monthly_requests=False):
             for month in t.month.unique():
                 query = {
                     "year": str(year),
-                    "month": str(month),
-                    "day": list(t[t.month == month].day.unique()),
+                    "month": [str(month).zfill(2)],
+                    "day": list(
+                        t[t.month == month].day.unique().astype(str).str.zfill(2)
+                    ),
                     "time": ["%02d:00" % h for h in t[t.month == month].hour.unique()],
                 }
                 times.append(query)
         else:
             query = {
-                "year": str(year),
-                "month": list(t.month.unique()),
-                "day": list(t.day.unique()),
+                "year": [str(year)],
+                "month": list(t.month.unique().astype(str).str.zfill(2)),
+                "day": list(t.day.unique().astype(str).str.zfill(2)),
                 "time": ["%02d:00" % h for h in t.hour.unique()],
             }
             times.append(query)
@@ -338,7 +342,17 @@ def retrieve_data(product, chunks=None, tmpdir=None, lock=None, **updates):
     If you want to track the state of your request go to
     https://cds-beta.climate.copernicus.eu/requests?tab=all
     """
-    request = {"product_type": "reanalysis", "format": "netcdf"}
+
+    # Set url for data download, this allows to switch to different data
+    # sources more easily.
+    url = "https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/api"
+
+    request = {
+        "product_type": ["reanalysis"],
+        "data_format": "netcdf",
+        "download_format": "zip",
+    }
+
     request.update(updates)
 
     assert {"year", "month", "variable"}.issubset(
@@ -346,7 +360,7 @@ def retrieve_data(product, chunks=None, tmpdir=None, lock=None, **updates):
     ), "Need to specify at least 'variable', 'year' and 'month'"
 
     client = cdsapi.Client(
-        info_callback=logger.debug, debug=logging.DEBUG >= logging.root.level
+        url=url, info_callback=logger.debug, debug=logging.DEBUG >= logging.root.level
     )
     result = client.retrieve(product, request)
 
@@ -354,7 +368,7 @@ def retrieve_data(product, chunks=None, tmpdir=None, lock=None, **updates):
         lock = nullcontext()
 
     with lock:
-        fd, target = mkstemp(suffix=".nc", dir=tmpdir)
+        fd, target_zip = mkstemp(suffix=".zip", dir=tmpdir)
         os.close(fd)
 
         # Inform user about data being downloaded as "* variable (year-month)"
@@ -362,12 +376,42 @@ def retrieve_data(product, chunks=None, tmpdir=None, lock=None, **updates):
         variables = atleast_1d(request["variable"])
         varstr = "\n\t".join([f"{v} ({timestr})" for v in variables])
         logger.info(f"CDS: Downloading variables\n\t{varstr}\n")
-        result.download(target)
+        result.download(target_zip)
+
+        # Open the .zip file in memory
+        with zipfile.ZipFile(target_zip, "r") as zf:
+            # Identify .nc files inside the .zip
+            nc_files = [name for name in zf.namelist() if name.endswith(".nc")]
+
+            if not nc_files:
+                raise FileNotFoundError(
+                    "No .nc files found in the downloaded .zip archive."
+                )
+
+            if len(nc_files) == 1:
+                # If there's only one .nc file, read it into memory
+                with zf.open(nc_files[0]) as nc_file:
+                    # Pass the in-memory file-like object to Xarray
+                    ds = xr.open_dataset(
+                        io.BytesIO(nc_file.read()), chunks=chunks or {}
+                    )
+
+            else:
+                # If multiple .nc files, combine them using Xarray
+                datasets = []
+                for nc_file in nc_files:
+                    with zf.open(nc_file) as file:
+                        datasets.append(
+                            xr.open_dataset(
+                                io.BytesIO(file.read()), chunks=chunks or {}
+                            )
+                        )
+                # Combine datasets along temporal dimension
+                ds = xr.merge(datasets)
 
-    ds = xr.open_dataset(target, chunks=chunks or {})
     if tmpdir is None:
-        logger.debug(f"Adding finalizer for {target}")
-        weakref.finalize(ds._file_obj._manager, noisy_unlink, target)
+        logging.debug(f"Adding finalizer for {target_zip}")
+        weakref.finalize(ds._file_obj._manager, noisy_unlink, target_zip)
 
     return ds
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fec16fc2..5a9eb093 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "numexpr",
     "xarray>=2024.03.0",
     "netcdf4",
+    "h5netcdf", # For new cds api. Maybe make optional / may not be needed with future netcdf4 updates
     "dask>=2021.10.0",
     "toolz",
     "requests",