diff --git a/.conda/create_env.py b/.conda/create_env.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d256926c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.conda/create_env.py
@@ -0,0 +1,240 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+"""
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2019 Silvan Melchior
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
+
+Downloaded from https://github.com/silvanmelchior/cme_parser
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+import argparse
+
+
+class MetaFileParser:
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self._flags = []
+        self._vars = {}
+        self.file_buffer = None
+        self.line_cnt = None
+
+    def read_argparse(self, flags_list, var_list):
+        self._flags = flags_list
+        for attr, val in var_list:
+            self._vars[attr] = val
+
+    def parse_file(self, file_in):
+        self.file_buffer = []
+        self.line_cnt = 0
+        try:
+            if not self._parse_file(file_in, True, 0):
+                raise ValueError('Unexpected closing bracket')
+        except ValueError as e:
+            raise ValueError('Line %d: %s' % (self.line_cnt, e))
+
+    def _parse_file(self, file_in, do_print, depth):
+        while True:
+            try:
+                line = next(file_in)
+                self.line_cnt += 1
+                dbl_bracket_start = line.find('[[')
+                dbl_bracket_end = line.find(']]')
+                if dbl_bracket_start != -1:
+                    condition = line[dbl_bracket_start + 1:]
+                    if do_print:
+                        do_print_ = self._eval_condition(condition)
+                    else:
+                        do_print_ = False
+                    self._parse_file(file_in, do_print_, depth+1)
+                elif dbl_bracket_end != -1:
+                    return False
+                else:
+                    if do_print:
+                        self._parse_line(line)
+            except StopIteration:
+                if depth == 0:
+                    return True
+                else:
+                    raise ValueError('Unexpected end of file, expected ]]')
+
+    def _parse_line(self, line):
+        bracket_start = line.find('[')
+        bracket_end = line.find(']')
+        if bracket_start != -1 and bracket_end != -1:
+            condition = line[bracket_start+1:bracket_end]
+            line = line[:bracket_start] + line[bracket_end+1:]
+            if not self._eval_condition(condition):
+                return
+
+        self.file_buffer.append(line)
+
+    def _eval_condition(self, condition):
+        cond_ = condition.replace('==', ' == ').replace('!=', ' != ')
+        fields = cond_.split()
+        return self._eval_fields(fields)
+
+    def _eval_fields(self, fields):
+        if 'or' in fields:
+            idx = fields.index('or')
+            left = self._eval_fields(fields[:idx])
+            right = self._eval_fields(fields[idx + 1:])
+            return left or right
+        if 'and' in fields:
+            idx = fields.index('and')
+            left = self._eval_fields(fields[:idx])
+            right = self._eval_fields(fields[idx + 1:])
+            return left and right
+        if len(fields) > 0 and fields[0] == 'not':
+            return not self._eval_fields(fields[1:])
+
+        if len(fields) == 1:
+            return self._eval_flag(fields[0])
+
+        if len(fields) == 3:
+            if fields[1] in ['==', '!=', 'startswith', 'endswith', 'contains']:
+                left = self._eval_expression(fields[0])
+                if fields[1] == '==':
+                    return left == fields[2]
+                elif fields[1] == '!=':
+                    return left != fields[2]
+                elif fields[1] == 'startswith':
+                    return left.startswith(fields[2])
+                elif fields[1] == 'endswith':
+                    return left.endswith(fields[2])
+                elif fields[1] == 'contains':
+                    return fields[2] in left
+
+        raise ValueError('Syntax Error')
+
+    def _eval_flag(self, name):
+        if '%' in name:
+            raise ValueError('Flags can\'t have default values')
+        else:
+            return name in self._flags
+
+    def _eval_expression(self, name):
+        if name == 'platform':
+            return sys.platform
+        else:
+            return self._eval_var(name)
+
+    def _eval_var(self, name):
+        name_cleaned = name.split('%')[0]
+        if name_cleaned not in self._vars:
+            if '%' in name:
+                return name.split('%')[1]
+            else:
+                raise ValueError('Custom variable \'%s\' neither set with command line options '
+                                 'nor given default value' % name)
+        else:
+            return self._vars[name_cleaned]
+
+    def write_result(self, file_out):
+        for line in self.file_buffer:
+            file_out.write(line)
+
+
+def main():
+    # Read command line arguments
+    argparser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    argparser.add_argument('-i', '--input',
+                           help='specify meta environment input file')
+    argparser.add_argument('-o', '--output',
+                           help='specify environment output file')
+    argparser.add_argument('-f', '--flag', type=str, action='append', default=[],
+                           help='set custom flag for parsing')
+    argparser.add_argument('-v', '--variable', type=str, nargs=2, action='append', default=[],
+                           help='define custom variable for parsing')
+    argparser.add_argument('-q', '--quiet', action='store_true',
+                           help='quietly overwrite output if already exists')
+    argparser.add_argument('-p', '--parse-only', action='store_true',
+                           help='do not invoke conda afterwards')
+    argparser.add_argument('-c', '--no-comment', action='store_true',
+                           help='do not add auto-generated comment to output')
+    args = argparser.parse_args()
+
+    # Create parser instance
+    metafileparser = MetaFileParser()
+    metafileparser.read_argparse(args.flag, args.variable)
+
+    # Get input file
+    dir_path = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
+    if args.input is None:
+        meta_file_name = 'environment.yml.meta'
+        meta_file = os.path.join(dir_path, meta_file_name)
+        if not os.path.exists(meta_file):
+            meta_file = os.path.join(dir_path, '..', meta_file_name)
+    else:
+        meta_file_name = os.path.basename(args.input)
+        meta_file = args.input
+
+    if not os.path.exists(meta_file):
+        sys.stderr.write('Error: Could not find input file')
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    # Get output file
+    if args.output is None:
+        if meta_file.endswith('.meta'):
+            env_file = meta_file[:-5]
+        else:
+            env_file = meta_file + '_out'
+    else:
+        env_file = args.output
+
+    if os.path.exists(env_file) and not args.quiet:
+        input_query = 'Output file %s already exists, overwrite ([y]/n)?' % env_file
+        while True:
+            try:
+                input_ = raw_input
+            except NameError:
+                input_ = input
+            answer = input_(input_query)
+            if answer in ['', 'Y', 'y', 'yes', 'Yes', 'YES']:
+                break
+            elif answer in ['N', 'n', 'no', 'No', 'NO']:
+                return
+            input_query = 'Invalid answer, please answer yes or no ([y]/n):'
+
+    # Read input
+    with open(meta_file, 'r') as file_in:
+        try:
+            metafileparser.parse_file(file_in)
+        except ValueError as e:
+            sys.stderr.write('Error: %s\n' % e)
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+    # Write output
+    with open(env_file, 'w') as file_out:
+        if not args.no_comment:
+            file_out.write('# This file was auto-generated from %s\n' % meta_file_name)
+        metafileparser.write_result(file_out)
+
+    sys.stdout.write('Created %s successfully\n' % env_file)
+
+    # Invoke conda
+    if not args.parse_only:
+        os.system('conda env create -f %s' % env_file)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/.conda/environment.yml.meta b/.conda/environment.yml.meta
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ae0ad153
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.conda/environment.yml.meta
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+name: monc
+channels:
+  - conda-forge
+  - defaults
+dependencies:
+  - gfortran_osx-64 [platform startswith darwin]
+  - gfortran_linux-64 [platform startswith linux]
+  - netcdf-fortran
+  - xarray
+  - pip
+  - pip:
+    - netCDF4
+    - scipy
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 340fc55c..b168a5a6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,3 +13,5 @@ submonc.sge.[oe]*
 *.autogen
 __pycache__/
 .pytest_cache/
+
+.conda/environment.yml
diff --git a/doc/compiling_in_conda_envs.md b/doc/compiling_in_conda_envs.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f4756411
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/compiling_in_conda_envs.md
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# Installing dependencies with conda
+
+A convenient way to get the dependencies to compile and run MONC locally
+is to use a [conda](https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html)
+environment.
+
+A conda environment which matches your local system can be conveniently
+created with
+
+```bash
+python .conda/create_env.py
+```
+
+This command parses `.conda/environment.yml.meta` and adds the correct packages
+for your system to an environment file in `.conda/environment.yml` and creates
+a conda environment called `monc` which can be used for compiling MONC.