diff --git a/xclim/core/locales.py b/xclim/core/locales.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/xclim/core/locales.py
+++ b/xclim/core/locales.py
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ def get_local_dict(locale: Union[str, Sequence[str], Tuple[str, dict]]):
         )
     if isinstance(locale[1], dict):
         return locale
-    with open(locale[1]) as locf:
+    with open(locale[1], encoding="utf-8") as locf:
         return locale[0], json.load(locf)
Clearly set utf-8 in `get_local_dict` file handler to prevent opening files using Windows default charsets