diff --git a/cdm-test/src/test/java/ucar/nc2/ft/coverage/TestCoverageSubsetTime.java b/cdm-test/src/test/java/ucar/nc2/ft/coverage/TestCoverageSubsetTime.java
index b0faa95cc9..88c539cbfe 100644
--- a/cdm-test/src/test/java/ucar/nc2/ft/coverage/TestCoverageSubsetTime.java
+++ b/cdm-test/src/test/java/ucar/nc2/ft/coverage/TestCoverageSubsetTime.java
@@ -792,6 +792,46 @@ public void testRegularIntervalSubsetTimeRange() throws IOException, InvalidRang
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testDiscontiguousIntervalSubsetTimeRangeStartNoInInterval() throws IOException, InvalidRangeException {
+    String endpoint = TestDir.cdmUnitTestDir + "datasets/NDFD-CONUS-5km/NDFD-CONUS-5km.ncx4";
+    String covName = "Minimum_temperature_height_above_ground_12_Hour_Minimum";
+
+    logger.debug("testDiscontiguousIntervalTime Dataset {} coverage {}", endpoint, covName);
+
+    try (FeatureDatasetCoverage featureDatasetCoverage = CoverageDatasetFactory.open(endpoint)) {
+      assertThat(featureDatasetCoverage).isNotNull();
+      CoverageCollection coverageCollection = featureDatasetCoverage.findCoverageDataset(FeatureType.GRID);
+      assertThat(coverageCollection).isNotNull();
+      Coverage coverage = coverageCollection.findCoverage(covName);
+      assertThat(coverage).isNotNull();
+
+      SubsetParams params = new SubsetParams();
+
+      // key point of test - start time lands between two discontiguous time windows
+      CalendarDate subsetTimeStart = CalendarDate.parseISOformat(null, "2013-12-18T20:00:00Z");
+      CalendarDate subsetTimeEnd = CalendarDate.parseISOformat(null, "2013-12-19T13:00:00Z");
+      // expect: any interval containing or ending on the start or end times
+      // idx keep interval
+      // 0 N ( 84.000000, 96.000000) == (2013-12-15T12:00:00Z, 2013-12-16T00:00:00Z)
+      // 1 N (108.000000, 120.000000) == (2013-12-16T12:00:00Z, 2013-12-17T00:00:00Z)
+      // 2 N (132.000000, 144.000000) == (2013-12-17T12:00:00Z, 2013-12-18T00:00:00Z)
+      // 3 Y (156.000000, 168.000000) == (2013-12-18T12:00:00Z, 2013-12-19T00:00:00Z)
+      // 4 Y (180.000000, 192.000000) == (2013-12-19T12:00:00Z, 2013-12-20T00:00:00Z)
+      // 5 N (204.000000, 216.000000) == (2013-12-20T12:00:00Z, 2013-12-21T00:00:00Z)
+      int expectedStartIndex = 3;
+      int expectedEndIndex = 4;
+      params.setTimeRange(CalendarDateRange.of(subsetTimeStart, subsetTimeEnd));
+      logger.debug("  subset {}", params);
+
+      GeoReferencedArray geo = coverage.readData(params);
+      assertThat(geo).isNotNull();
+      CoverageCoordAxis timeAxis = geo.findCoordAxis("time1");
+      assertThat(timeAxis).isNotNull();
+      assertThat(timeAxis.getSpacing()).isEqualTo(Spacing.discontiguousInterval);
+      assertThat(timeAxis.getRange()).isEqualTo(new Range(expectedStartIndex, expectedEndIndex));
+    }
+  }
   ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   // ENsemble
 
diff --git a/cdm/core/src/main/java/ucar/nc2/ft2/coverage/CoordAxisHelper.java b/cdm/core/src/main/java/ucar/nc2/ft2/coverage/CoordAxisHelper.java
index 4ce291d799..cd015bd6b2 100644
--- a/cdm/core/src/main/java/ucar/nc2/ft2/coverage/CoordAxisHelper.java
+++ b/cdm/core/src/main/java/ucar/nc2/ft2/coverage/CoordAxisHelper.java
@@ -205,13 +205,16 @@ else if (upperIndex > axis.getCoordEdgeLast())
   // same contract as findCoordElement(); in addition, -1 is returned when the target is not contained in any interval
   private int findCoordElementDiscontiguousInterval(double target, boolean bounded) {
     int idx = findSingleHit(target);
-    // multiple hits = choose closest (definition of closest will be based on axis type)
-    if (idx == MULTIPLE_HITS) {
-      return findClosestDiscontiguousInterval(target);
-    }
     if (bounded && (idx >= axis.getNcoords())) {
       return -1;
     }
+    // multiple hits = choose closest (definition of closest will be based on axis type)
+    // - OR -
+    // idx will be Ncoords if target not contained within an interval window - however, that
+    // does not mean target isn't between two discontiguous windows, so find the closest one
+    if (idx == MULTIPLE_HITS || idx == axis.getNcoords()) {
+      return findClosestDiscontiguousInterval(target);
+    }
     return idx;
   }
 
@@ -272,28 +275,25 @@ private int findClosestDiscontiguousTimeInterval(double target) {
     int idxFound = -1;
 
     for (int i = 0; i < axis.getNcoords(); i++) {
-      // only check if target is in discontiguous interval i
-      if (intervalContains(target, i)) {
-        // find the end of the time interval
-        double coord = axis.getCoordEdge2(i);
-        // We want to make sure the interval includes our target point, and that means the end of the interval
-        // must be greater than or equal to the target.
-        if (coord >= target) {
-          // compute the width (in time) of the interval
-          double width = coord - axis.getCoordEdge1(i);
-          // we want to identify the interval with the end point closest to our target
-          // why? Because a statistic computed over a time window will only have meaning at the end
-          // of that interval, so the closer we can get to that the better.
-          double diff = Math.abs(coord - target);
-          // Here we minimize the difference between the end of an interval and our target value. If multiple
-          // intervals result in the same difference value, we will pick the one with the smallest non-zero
-          // width interval.
-          boolean tiebreaker = (diff == minDiff) && (width != 0) && (width < useValue);
-          if (diff < minDiff || tiebreaker) {
-            minDiff = diff;
-            idxFound = i;
-            useValue = width;
-          }
+      // find the end of the time interval
+      double coord = axis.getCoordEdge2(i);
+      // We want to make sure the interval includes our target point, and that means the end of the interval
+      // must be greater than or equal to the target.
+      if (coord >= target) {
+        // compute the width (in time) of the interval
+        double width = coord - axis.getCoordEdge1(i);
+        // we want to identify the interval with the end point closest to our target
+        // why? Because a statistic computed over a time window will only have meaning at the end
+        // of that interval, so the closer we can get to that the better.
+        double diff = Math.abs(coord - target);
+        // Here we minimize the difference between the end of an interval and our target value. If multiple
+        // intervals result in the same difference value, we will pick the one with the smallest non-zero
+        // width interval.
+        boolean tiebreaker = (diff == minDiff) && (width != 0) && (width < useValue);
+        if (diff < minDiff || tiebreaker) {
+          minDiff = diff;
+          idxFound = i;
+          useValue = width;
         }
       }
     }