diff --git a/xrft/tests/test_xrft.py b/xrft/tests/test_xrft.py
index 482e3432..dc661879 100644
--- a/xrft/tests/test_xrft.py
+++ b/xrft/tests/test_xrft.py
@@ -1306,3 +1306,23 @@ def test_reversed_coordinates():
     xrt.assert_allclose(
         xrft.dft(s, dim="x", true_phase=True), xrft.dft(s2, dim="x", true_phase=True)
     )
+
+
+def test_nondim_coords():
+    """Error should be raised if there are non-dimensional coordinates attached to the dimension(s) over which the FFT is being taken"""
+    N = 16
+    da = xr.DataArray(
+        np.random.rand(2, N, N),
+        dims=["time", "x", "y"],
+        coords={
+            "time": np.array(["2019-04-18", "2019-04-19"], dtype="datetime64"),
+            "x": range(N),
+            "y": range(N),
+            "x_nondim": ("x", np.arange(N)),
+        },
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        xrft.power_spectrum(da)
+
+    xrft.power_spectrum(da, dim=["time", "y"])
diff --git a/xrft/xrft.py b/xrft/xrft.py
index ea4a9e86..1c38b6e0 100644
--- a/xrft/xrft.py
+++ b/xrft/xrft.py
@@ -383,6 +383,17 @@ def fft(
 
     N = [da.shape[n] for n in axis_num]
 
+    # raise error if there are multiple coordinates attached to the dimension(s) over which the FFT is taken
+    for d in dim:
+        bad_coords = [
+            cname for cname in da.coords if cname != d and d in da[cname].dims
+        ]
+        if bad_coords:
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"The input array contains coordinate variable(s) ({bad_coords}) whose dims include the transform dimension(s) `{d}`. "
+                f"Please drop these coordinates (`.drop({bad_coords}`) before invoking xrft."
+            )
+
     # verify even spacing of input coordinates
     delta_x = []
     lag_x = []