diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 75d358d5a..c43c04013 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ v0.45.0 (unreleased)
 --------------------
 Contributors to this version: David Huard (:user:`huard`), Trevor James Smith (:user:`Zeitsperre`), Pascal Bourgault (:user:`aulemahal`), Juliette Lavoie (:user:`juliettelavoie`), Gabriel Rondeau-Genesse (:user:`RondeauG`), Marco Braun (:user:`vindelico`), Éric Dupuis (:user:`coxipi`).
 
+Announcements
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+* `xclim` now uses `platformdirs` to write `xclim-testdata` to the user's cache directory. Dynamic paths are now used to cache data dependent on the user's operating system. Developers can now safely delete the `.xclim-testdata` folder in their home directory without affecting the functionality of `xclim`. (:pull:`1460`).
+
 New features and enhancements
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 * Added ``ensembles.hawkins_sutton`` method to partition the uncertainty sources in a climate projection ensemble. (:issue:`771`, :pull:`1262`).
diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 0faeff617..34defe4a7 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ dependencies:
     - nc-time-axis
     - netCDF4>=1.4
     - notebook
+    - platformdirs
     - pooch
     - pre-commit
     - pybtex
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fe4aa4544..9ad85a86f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ dev = [
   "nbqa",
   "nbval",
   "netCDF4 >=1.4",
+  "platformdirs >=3.2",
   "pre-commit >=2.9",
   "pydocstyle >=5.1.1",
   "pybtex",
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 2e13a047c..d3ec73a37 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 0.44.19-beta
+current_version = 0.44.20-beta
 commit = True
 tag = False
 parse = (?P<major>\d+)\.(?P<minor>\d+).(?P<patch>\d+)(\-(?P<release>[a-z]+))?
diff --git a/xclim/__init__.py b/xclim/__init__.py
index 1d0922739..eb123fc9f 100644
--- a/xclim/__init__.py
+++ b/xclim/__init__.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 __author__ = """Travis Logan"""
 __email__ = "logan.travis@ouranos.ca"
-__version__ = "0.44.19-beta"
+__version__ = "0.44.20-beta"
 
 
 # Load official locales
diff --git a/xclim/testing/utils.py b/xclim/testing/utils.py
index 44978e563..e53ff087e 100644
--- a/xclim/testing/utils.py
+++ b/xclim/testing/utils.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 from urllib.request import urlopen, urlretrieve
 
 import pandas as pd
+from platformdirs import user_cache_dir
 from xarray import Dataset
 from xarray import open_dataset as _open_dataset
 
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@
 ]
 
 
-_default_cache_dir = Path.home() / ".xclim_testing_data"
+_default_cache_dir = Path(user_cache_dir("xclim-testdata"))
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("xclim")