diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 86f00e0..b2bbf4d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ htmlcov/
 nosetests.xml
 coverage.xml
 *,cover
+.pytest_cache/
 
 # Translations
 *.mo
diff --git a/aospy/data_loader.py b/aospy/data_loader.py
index 4bf057b..3962eb9 100644
--- a/aospy/data_loader.py
+++ b/aospy/data_loader.py
@@ -6,7 +6,12 @@ import warnings
 import numpy as np
 import xarray as xr
 
-from .internal_names import ETA_STR, GRID_ATTRS, TIME_STR, TIME_BOUNDS_STR
+from .internal_names import (
+    ETA_STR,
+    GRID_ATTRS,
+    TIME_STR,
+    TIME_BOUNDS_STR,
+)
 from .utils import times, io
 
 
@@ -63,8 +68,8 @@ def grid_attrs_to_aospy_names(data):
         Data returned with coordinates consistent with aospy
         conventions
     """
+    dims_and_vars = set(data.variables).union(set(data.dims))
     for name_int, names_ext in GRID_ATTRS.items():
-        dims_and_vars = set(data.variables).union(set(data.dims))
         data_coord_name = set(names_ext).intersection(dims_and_vars)
         if data_coord_name:
             data = data.rename({data_coord_name.pop(): name_int})
@@ -174,7 +179,7 @@ def _prep_time_data(ds):
     Dataset, int, int
         The processed Dataset and minimum and maximum years in the loaded data
     """
-    ds = times.ensure_time_as_dim(ds)
+    ds = times.ensure_time_as_index(ds)
     ds, min_year, max_year = times.numpy_datetime_workaround_encode_cf(ds)
     if TIME_BOUNDS_STR in ds:
         ds = times.ensure_time_avg_has_cf_metadata(ds)
@@ -275,6 +280,7 @@ class DataLoader(object):
             coords=self.coords, start_date=start_date, end_date=end_date,
             time_offset=time_offset, **DataAttrs
         )
+
         ds, min_year, max_year = _prep_time_data(ds)
         ds = set_grid_attrs_as_coords(ds)
         da = _sel_var(ds, var, self.upcast_float32)
diff --git a/aospy/utils/times.py b/aospy/utils/times.py
index 688417f..08b0c89 100644
--- a/aospy/utils/times.py
+++ b/aospy/utils/times.py
@@ -540,13 +540,14 @@ def assert_matching_time_coord(arr1, arr2):
         raise ValueError(message.format(arr1[TIME_STR], arr2[TIME_STR]))
 
 
-def ensure_time_as_dim(ds):
-    """Ensures that time is an indexable dimension on relevant quantites
+def ensure_time_as_index(ds):
+    """Ensures that time is an indexed coordinate on relevant quantites.
 
-    In xarray, scalar coordinates cannot be indexed.  We rely
-    on indexing in the time dimension throughout the code; therefore
-    we need this helper method to (if needed) convert a scalar time coordinate
-    to a dimension.
+    Sometimes when the data we load from disk has only one timestep, the
+    indexing of time-defined quantities in the resulting xarray.Dataset gets
+    messed up, in that the time bounds array and data variables don't get
+    indexed by time, even though they should.  Therefore, we need this helper
+    function to (possibly) correct this.
 
     Note that this must be applied before CF-conventions are decoded; otherwise
     it casts ``np.datetime64[ns]`` as ``int`` values.
@@ -559,38 +560,14 @@ def ensure_time_as_dim(ds):
     Returns
     -------
     Dataset
-    """
-    if TIME_STR not in ds.dims:
-        time = convert_scalar_to_indexable_coord(ds[TIME_STR])
-        ds = ds.set_coords(TIME_STR)
-        for name in ds.variables:
-            if ((name not in GRID_ATTRS_NO_TIMES) and
-               (name != TIME_STR)):
-                da = ds[name]
-                da, _ = xr.broadcast(da, time)
-                da[TIME_STR] = time
-                ds[name] = da
-    return ds
-
 
-def convert_scalar_to_indexable_coord(scalar_da):
-    """Convert a scalar coordinate to an indexable one.
-
-    In xarray, scalar coordinates cannot be indexed. This converts
-    a scalar coordinate-containing ``DataArray`` to one that can
-    be indexed using ``da.sel`` and ``da.isel``.
-
-    Parameters
-    ----------
-    scalar_da : DataArray
-        Must contain a scalar coordinate
-
-    Returns
-    -------
-    DataArray
     """
-    data = [scalar_da.values.item()]
-    da = xr.DataArray(data, coords=[data], dims=[scalar_da.name],
-                      name=scalar_da.name)
-    da.attrs = scalar_da.attrs
-    return da
+    time_indexed_coords = {TIME_WEIGHTS_STR, TIME_BOUNDS_STR}
+    time_indexed_vars = set(ds.data_vars).union(time_indexed_coords)
+    time_indexed_vars = time_indexed_vars.intersection(ds.variables)
+    for name in time_indexed_vars:
+        if TIME_STR not in ds[name].indexes:
+            da = ds[name].expand_dims(TIME_STR)
+            da[TIME_STR] = ds[TIME_STR]
+            ds[name] = da
+    return ds
diff --git a/docs/whats-new.rst b/docs/whats-new.rst
index 7996ff6..6ce763e 100644
--- a/docs/whats-new.rst
+++ b/docs/whats-new.rst
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ Breaking Changes
   object, pass it directly the parameters that previously would have
   been passed to ``CalcInterface`` (fixes :issue:`249` via
   :pull:`250`).  By `Spencer Hill <https://github.com/spencerahill>`_.
+- Deprecate ``utils.times.convert_scalar_to_indexable_coord``, since
+  as of xarray version 0.10.3 release, the functionality is no longer
+  necessary (fixes :issue:`268` via :pull:`269`.  By `Spencer Hill
+  <https://github.com/spencerahill>`_.
 
 Documentation
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -110,8 +114,9 @@ Dependencies
 
 - ``aospy`` now requires a minimum version of ``distributed`` of
   1.17.1 (fixes :issue:`210` via :pull:`211`).
-- ``aospy`` now requires a minimum version of ``xarray`` of 0.10.0.
-  See discussion in :issue:`199` and :pull:`240` for more details.
+- ``aospy`` now requires a minimum version of ``xarray`` of 0.10.3.
+  See discussion in :issue:`199`, :pull:`240`, :issue:`268`, and
+  :pull:`269` for more details.
 
 .. _whats-new.0.2:
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b237c6e..bb659f5 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ setuptools.setup(
                       'toolz >= 0.7.2',
                       'dask >= 0.14',
                       'distributed >= 1.17.1',
-                      'xarray >= 0.10.0',
+                      'xarray >= 0.10.3',
                       'cloudpickle >= 0.2.1'],
     tests_require=['pytest >= 2.7.1',
                    'pytest-catchlog >= 1.0'],

diff --git a/aospy/test/test_utils_times.py b/aospy/test/test_utils_times.py
index 5e287fd..00b4216 100755
--- a/aospy/test/test_utils_times.py
+++ b/aospy/test/test_utils_times.py
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@ from aospy.utils.times import (
     _assert_has_data_for_time,
     add_uniform_time_weights,
     assert_matching_time_coord,
-    ensure_time_as_dim,
-    convert_scalar_to_indexable_coord,
+    ensure_time_as_index,
     sel_time,
     yearly_average
 )
@@ -433,37 +432,46 @@ def test_assert_matching_time_coord():
         assert_matching_time_coord(arr1, arr2)
 
 
-def test_ensure_time_as_dim():
-    arr = xr.DataArray([3, 4], coords=[[1, 2]], dims=[TIME_STR])
+def test_ensure_time_as_index_no_change():
+    # Already properly indexed, so shouldn't be modified.
+    arr = xr.DataArray([-23, 42.4], coords=[[1, 2]], dims=[TIME_STR])
     arr[TIME_STR].attrs['units'] = 'days since 2000-01-01 00:00:00'
     arr[TIME_STR].attrs['calendar'] = 'standard'
     ds = arr.to_dataset(name='a')
-    assert TIME_STR in ds.dims
-    assert ds.identical(ensure_time_as_dim(ds))
+    ds.coords[TIME_WEIGHTS_STR] = xr.DataArray(
+        [1, 1], dims=[TIME_STR], coords={TIME_STR: arr[TIME_STR]}
+    )
+    ds.coords[TIME_BOUNDS_STR] = xr.DataArray(
+        [[0.5, 1.5], [1.5, 2.5]], dims=[TIME_STR, BOUNDS_STR],
+        coords={TIME_STR: arr[TIME_STR]}
+    )
+    xr.testing.assert_identical(ds, ensure_time_as_index(ds))
 
-    scalar_time_in_ds = ds.isel(**{TIME_STR: 0})
-    assert TIME_STR not in scalar_time_in_ds.dims
-    result = ensure_time_as_dim(scalar_time_in_ds)
 
-    arr = xr.DataArray([3], coords=[[1]], dims=[TIME_STR])
+def test_ensure_time_as_index_with_change():
+    # Time bounds array doesn't index time initially, which gets fixed.
+    arr = xr.DataArray([-93], dims=[TIME_STR], coords={TIME_STR: [3]})
     arr[TIME_STR].attrs['units'] = 'days since 2000-01-01 00:00:00'
     arr[TIME_STR].attrs['calendar'] = 'standard'
+    ds = arr.to_dataset(name='a')
+    ds.coords[TIME_WEIGHTS_STR] = xr.DataArray(
+        [1], dims=[TIME_STR], coords={TIME_STR: arr[TIME_STR]}
+    )
+    ds.coords[TIME_BOUNDS_STR] = xr.DataArray(
+        [[3.5, 4.5]], dims=[TIME_STR, BOUNDS_STR],
+        coords={TIME_STR: arr[TIME_STR]}
+    )
+    ds = ds.isel(**{TIME_STR: 0}).expand_dims(TIME_STR)
+    actual = ensure_time_as_index(ds)
     expected = arr.to_dataset(name='a')
-    xr.testing.assert_identical(result, expected)
-
-
-def test_convert_scalar_to_indexable_coord():
-    da = xr.DataArray([3, 4], coords=[[1, 2]], dims=['a'], name='b')
-    da['a'].attrs['test'] = 'c'
-    scalar_coord = da.isel(a=0)['a']
-    assert 'a' not in scalar_coord.dims
-
-    indexable_coord = convert_scalar_to_indexable_coord(scalar_coord)
-    assert 'a' in indexable_coord.dims
-
-    expected = xr.DataArray([1], coords=[[1]], dims=['a'], name='a')
-    expected.attrs['test'] = 'c'
-    xr.testing.assert_identical(indexable_coord, expected)
+    expected.coords[TIME_WEIGHTS_STR] = xr.DataArray(
+        [1], dims=[TIME_STR], coords={TIME_STR: arr[TIME_STR]}
+    )
+    expected.coords[TIME_BOUNDS_STR] = xr.DataArray(
+        [[3.5, 4.5]], dims=[TIME_STR, BOUNDS_STR],
+        coords={TIME_STR: arr[TIME_STR]}
+        )
+    xr.testing.assert_identical(actual, expected)
 
 
 def test_sel_time():

Failing test_calc_basic tests after updating xarray from 10.2 to 10.3
Originally noted [here](https://github.com/spencerahill/aospy/pull/266#issuecomment-383776179)

All of the failures are the same error.  Note that this one doesn't involve regional averaging, so it's unrelated to what I'm implementing in #266.  Here's the traceback of one:

```
$ py.test test_calc_basic.py::TestCalc3D::test_monthly_ts
================================================================== test session starts ==================================================================
platform darwin -- Python 3.6.3, pytest-3.2.3, py-1.5.1, pluggy-0.4.0
rootdir: /Users/shill/Dropbox/py/aospy, inifile: setup.cfg
plugins: catchlog-1.2.2, hypothesis-3.50.2
collected 1 item

test_calc_basic.py F

======================================================================= FAILURES ========================================================================
______________________________________________________________ TestCalc3D.test_monthly_ts _______________________________________________________________

self = <aospy.test.test_calc_basic.TestCalc3D testMethod=test_monthly_ts>

    def test_monthly_ts(self):
        calc = Calc(intvl_out=1, dtype_out_time='ts', **self.test_params)
>       calc.compute()

calc       = <aospy.Calc instance: sphum, example_proj, example_model, example_run>
self       = <aospy.test.test_calc_basic.TestCalc3D testMethod=test_monthly_ts>

test_calc_basic.py:88:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
../calc.py:569: in compute
    self.end_date),
../calc.py:415: in _get_all_data
    for n, var in enumerate(self.variables)]
../calc.py:415: in <listcomp>
    for n, var in enumerate(self.variables)]
../calc.py:367: in _get_input_data
    **self.data_loader_attrs)
../data_loader.py:278: in load_variable
    ds, min_year, max_year = _prep_time_data(ds)
../data_loader.py:180: in _prep_time_data
    ds = times.ensure_time_avg_has_cf_metadata(ds)
../utils/times.py:417: in ensure_time_avg_has_cf_metadata
    raw_start_date = ds[TIME_BOUNDS_STR].isel(**{TIME_STR: 0, BOUNDS_STR: 0})
../../../../miniconda3/envs/py36/lib/python3.6/site-packages/xarray/core/dataarray.py:754: in isel
    ds = self._to_temp_dataset().isel(drop=drop, **indexers)
../../../../miniconda3/envs/py36/lib/python3.6/site-packages/xarray/core/dataset.py:1391: in isel
    indexers_list = self._validate_indexers(indexers)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

self = <xarray.Dataset>
Dimensions:       (bounds: 2)
Coordinates:
    time_bounds   (bounds) float64 dask.array<shape=(2,), ...    time_weights  float64 ...
Data variables:
    <this-array>  (bounds) float64 dask.array<shape=(2,), chunksize=(2,)>
indexers = {'bounds': 0, 'time': 0}

    def _validate_indexers(self, indexers):
        """ Here we make sure
            + indexer has a valid keys
            + indexer is in a valid data type
            """
        from .dataarray import DataArray

        invalid = [k for k in indexers if k not in self.dims]
        if invalid:
>           raise ValueError("dimensions %r do not exist" % invalid)
E           ValueError: dimensions ['time'] do not exist

DataArray  = <class 'xarray.core.dataarray.DataArray'>
indexers   = {'bounds': 0, 'time': 0}
invalid    = ['time']
self       = <xarray.Dataset>
Dimensions:       (bounds: 2)
Coordinates:
    time_bounds   (bounds) float64 dask.array<shape=(2,), ...    time_weights  float64 ...
Data variables:
    <this-array>  (bounds) float64 dask.array<shape=(2,), chunksize=(2,)>
```
aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_apply_time_offset aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_ensure_datetime_valid_input aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_ensure_datetime_invalid_input aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_datetime_or_default aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_numpy_datetime_range_workaround aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_month_indices aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_month_conditional aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_extract_months aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_extract_months_single_month aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_ensure_time_avg_has_cf_metadata aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_add_uniform_time_weights aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_assert_has_data_for_time aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_assert_matching_time_coord aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_ensure_time_as_index_no_change aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_ensure_time_as_index_with_change aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_sel_time aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_yearly_average_no_mask aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_yearly_average_masked_data aospy/test/test_utils_times.py::test_average_time_bounds