diff --git a/src/enkf/gridio_gfs.f90 b/src/enkf/gridio_gfs.f90
index 6e68f1a34..e2ce16e77 100644
--- a/src/enkf/gridio_gfs.f90
+++ b/src/enkf/gridio_gfs.f90
@@ -4114,7 +4114,7 @@ subroutine writeincrement(nanal1,nanal2,vars3d,vars2d,n3d,n2d,levels,ndim,grdin,
      write(charnanal,'(i3.3)') nanal
      sfcbackgroundloop: do nb=1,nbackgrounds
 
-     if (nanal == 0 .and. write_ensmean) then
+     if (nanal == 0 ) then
         filenamein = trim(adjustl(datapath))//trim(adjustl(fgsfcfileprefixes(nb)))//"ensmean"
         filenameout = trim(adjustl(datapath))//trim(adjustl(incsfcfileprefixes(nb)))//"ensmean"
      else