diff --git a/tests/ci_install.sh b/tests/ci_install.sh
index 5704658518..c31ca8b720 100644
--- a/tests/ci_install.sh
+++ b/tests/ci_install.sh
@@ -14,9 +14,14 @@ if [[ ${dependencies} == "full" || ${dependencies} == "cartopy" ]]; then
         libopenmpi-dev \
         libfuse2
         ;;
+    # uninstalling pkg-config to workaround a bug in macOS image
+    # https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/pull/198691#issuecomment-2495500991
+    # this can be cleaned-up once the following patch is released:
+    # https://github.com/actions/runner-images/pull/11015
     osx|macOS)
         sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/man
         sudo chown -R "${USER}:admin" /usr/local/man
+        HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 brew uninstall pkg-config@0.29.2 | true
         HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 brew install hdf5 open-mpi netcdf ccache macfuse
         ;;
     esac