diff --git a/doc/make.py b/doc/make.py
index acf172328..8fb8953a4 100755
--- a/doc/make.py
+++ b/doc/make.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import sys
 
 def html():
-    os.system('sphinx-build -b html -d build/doctrees . build/html')
+    os.system('LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sphinx-build -b html -c source/ -d build/doctrees . build/html')
 
 def latex():
     if sys.platform != 'win32':
diff --git a/doc/source/users/figures/plotdaynight.py b/doc/source/users/figures/plotdaynight.py
index ac1f7bc34..1cd20b916 100644
--- a/doc/source/users/figures/plotdaynight.py
+++ b/doc/source/users/figures/plotdaynight.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
+import os
+import time
+import datetime
 import numpy as np
 from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
-from datetime import datetime
 # miller projection 
 map = Basemap(projection='mill',lon_0=180)
 # plot coastlines, draw label meridians and parallels.
@@ -13,7 +15,8 @@
 map.fillcontinents(color='coral',lake_color='aqua')
 # shade the night areas, with alpha transparency so the 
 # map shows through. Use current time in UTC.
-date = datetime.utcnow()
+date = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(
+        int(os.environ.get('SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH', time.time())))
 CS=map.nightshade(date)
 plt.title('Day/Night Map for %s (UTC)' % date.strftime("%d %b %Y %H:%M:%S"))
 plt.show()
diff --git a/doc/source/users/figures/plothighsandlows.py b/doc/source/users/figures/plothighsandlows.py
index d9e70bb40..7f1c27261 100644
--- a/doc/source/users/figures/plothighsandlows.py
+++ b/doc/source/users/figures/plothighsandlows.py
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@
 plot H's and L's on a sea-level pressure map
 (uses scipy.ndimage.filters and netcdf4-python)
 """
-import datetime as dt
+import os
+import time
+import datetime
 import numpy as np
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap, addcyclic
@@ -23,7 +25,8 @@ def extrema(mat,mode='wrap',window=10):
 
 # Plot 00 UTC yesterday.
 url = "http://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/dods/gfs_0p50/gfs%Y%m%d/gfs_0p50_00z"
-date = dt.datetime.now() - dt.timedelta(days=1)
+date = datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(
+        int(os.environ.get('SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH', time.time()))) - datetime.timedelta(days=1)
 
 # open OpenDAP dataset.
 data = Dataset(date.strftime(url))