diff --git a/xwrf/config.yaml b/xwrf/config.yaml
index 18646088..b058b950 100644
--- a/xwrf/config.yaml
+++ b/xwrf/config.yaml
@@ -82,3 +82,13 @@ cf_attribute_map:
     standard_name: integral_of_surface_upward_heat_flux_in_air_wrt_time
   ACLHF:
     standard_name: integral_of_surface_upward_latent_heat_flux_in_air_wrf_time
+  VAR_SSO:
+    units: m2
+    description: Variance of Subgrid Scale Orography MSL
+  HGT_M:
+    units: m
+    description: GMTED2010 30-arc-second topography height MSL
+  PRES:
+    units: Pa
+  ST:
+    units: kelvin
diff --git a/xwrf/io_plugin.py b/xwrf/io_plugin.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7053da1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xwrf/io_plugin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+import itertools
+import os
+import pathlib
+import re
+import warnings
+
+import pandas as pd
+import xarray as xr
+
+from .config import config
+
+_LAT_COORDS = ('XLAT', 'XLAT_M', 'XLAT_U', 'XLAT_V', 'CLAT', 'XLAT_C')
+
+_LON_COORDS = ('XLONG', 'XLONG_M', 'XLONG_U', 'XLONG_V', 'CLONG', 'XLONG_C')
+
+_TIME_COORD_VARS = ('XTIME', 'Times', 'Time', 'time')
+
+_ALL_COORDS = set(itertools.chain(*[_LAT_COORDS, _LON_COORDS, _TIME_COORD_VARS]))
+
+_BOOLEAN_UNITS_ATTRS = ('-', 'flag', '0/1 Flag')
+
+
+def is_remote_uri(path: str) -> bool:
+    """Finds URLs of the form protocol:// or protocol::
+    This also matches for http[s]://, which were the only remote URLs
+    supported in <=v0.16.2.
+    """
+    return bool(re.search(r'^[a-z][a-z0-9]*(\://|\:\:)', path))
+
+
+def _normalize_path(path):
+    if isinstance(path, pathlib.Path):
+        path = str(path)
+
+    if isinstance(path, str) and not is_remote_uri(path):
+        path = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(path))
+
+    return path
+
+
+def clean(dataset):
+    """
+    Clean up the dataset.
+    """
+    coords = set(dataset.variables).intersection(_ALL_COORDS)
+    dataset = dataset.set_coords(coords)
+    for coord in dataset.coords:
+        attrs = dataset[coord].attrs
+        encoding = dataset[coord].encoding
+        if coord in _TIME_COORD_VARS:
+            try:
+                dataset[coord].data = pd.to_datetime(
+                    list(map(lambda x: x.decode('utf-8'), dataset[coord].data.tolist())),
+                    format='%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M:%S',
+                )
+            except:
+                warnings.warn(f'Failed to parse time coordinate: {coord}', stacklevel=2)
+
+        elif coord in (_LON_COORDS + _LAT_COORDS) and dataset[coord].ndim == 3:
+
+            attrs = dataset[coord].attrs
+            encoding = dataset[coord].encoding
+            dataset = dataset.assign_coords(
+                {coord: (dataset[coord].dims[1:], dataset[coord].data[0, :, :])}
+            )
+        dataset[coord].attrs = attrs
+        dataset[coord].encoding = encoding
+
+    return dataset
+
+
+def make_units_quantify_ready(dataset):
+    for var in dataset.data_vars:
+        if dataset[var].attrs.get('units') in _BOOLEAN_UNITS_ATTRS:
+            dataset[var].attrs.pop('units', None)
+
+
+def modify_attrs_to_cf(dataset):
+    vars_to_update = set(config.get('cf_attribute_map').keys()).intersection(set(dataset.keys()))
+
+    for var in vars_to_update:
+        dataset[var].attrs.update(config.get(f'cf_attribute_map.{var}'))
+
+
+class WRFBackendEntrypoint(xr.backends.BackendEntrypoint):
+    def open_dataset(
+        self,
+        filename_or_obj,
+        mask_and_scale=True,
+        decode_times=True,
+        concat_characters=True,
+        decode_coords=True,
+        drop_variables=None,
+        use_cftime=None,
+        decode_timedelta=None,
+        group=None,
+        mode='r',
+        format='NETCDF4',
+        clobber=True,
+        diskless=False,
+        persist=False,
+        lock=None,
+        autoclose=False,
+    ):
+
+        filename_or_obj = _normalize_path(filename_or_obj)
+        store = xr.backends.NetCDF4DataStore.open(
+            filename_or_obj,
+            mode=mode,
+            format=format,
+            clobber=clobber,
+            diskless=diskless,
+            persist=persist,
+            lock=lock,
+            autoclose=autoclose,
+        )
+
+        store_entrypoint = xr.backends.store.StoreBackendEntrypoint()
+
+        with xr.core.utils.close_on_error(store):
+            dataset = store_entrypoint.open_dataset(
+                store,
+                mask_and_scale=mask_and_scale,
+                decode_times=decode_times,
+                concat_characters=concat_characters,
+                decode_coords=decode_coords,
+                drop_variables=drop_variables,
+                use_cftime=use_cftime,
+                decode_timedelta=decode_timedelta,
+            )
+
+        make_units_quantify_ready(dataset)
+        modify_attrs_to_cf(dataset)
+        return clean(dataset)