diff --git a/esmvaltool/cmorizers/obs/cmorize_obs_era5.py b/esmvaltool/cmorizers/obs/cmorize_obs_era5.py
index 2e126715aa..c9c7519275 100644
--- a/esmvaltool/cmorizers/obs/cmorize_obs_era5.py
+++ b/esmvaltool/cmorizers/obs/cmorize_obs_era5.py
@@ -160,6 +160,9 @@ def _extract_variable(in_file, var, cfg, out_dir):
     cube.coord('latitude').var_name = 'lat'
     cube.coord('longitude').var_name = 'lon'
 
+    # Make latitude increasing
+    cube = cube[..., ::-1, :]
+
     for coord_name in 'latitude', 'longitude', 'time':
         try:
             coord = cube.coord(coord_name)
@@ -186,9 +189,6 @@ def _extract_variable(in_file, var, cfg, out_dir):
     # Convert units if required
     cube.convert_units(definition.units)
 
-    # Make latitude increasing
-    cube = cube[:, ::-1, ...]
-
     logger.info("Saving cube\n%s", cube)
     logger.info("Expected output size is %.1fGB",
                 np.prod(cube.shape) * 4 / 2**30)