diff --git a/src/Applications/LDAS_App/lenkf.j.template b/src/Applications/LDAS_App/lenkf.j.template
index 4ca47de3..e7a81d92 100644
--- a/src/Applications/LDAS_App/lenkf.j.template
+++ b/src/Applications/LDAS_App/lenkf.j.template
@@ -420,7 +420,9 @@ while ( $counter <= ${NUM_SGMT} )
        cd $THISMONTH
        
        foreach ThisCol ($collections)
-   
+
+          set ref_t = `cat HISTORY.rc | grep ${ThisCol}.ref_time: | cut -d':' -f2 | cut -d',' -f1`  
+          if ( $ref_t != '000000' ) continue 
           # if monthly exists, move on to the next collection
           if (-f $EXPID.${ThisCol}.monthly.$YYYY$MM.nc4) continue