diff --git a/scripts/requirements.txt b/scripts/requirements.txt
index 775fe2f3ec5..16554078f52 100644
--- a/scripts/requirements.txt
+++ b/scripts/requirements.txt
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ git-spindle==2.0
 gitlint
 intelhex
 junit2html
+packaging
 ply==3.10
 pyelftools==0.24
 pykwalify
diff --git a/scripts/west_commands/zcmake.py b/scripts/west_commands/zcmake.py
index a05e21fa6f0..7e705f6fc57 100644
--- a/scripts/west_commands/zcmake.py
+++ b/scripts/west_commands/zcmake.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import subprocess
 import shutil
 import sys
 
+import packaging.version
 from west import log
 from west.util import quote_sh_list
 
@@ -41,6 +42,8 @@ def run_cmake(args, cwd=None, capture_output=False, dry_run=False):
     cmake = shutil.which('cmake')
     if cmake is None and not dry_run:
         log.die('CMake is not installed or cannot be found; cannot build.')
+    _ensure_min_version(cmake, dry_run)
+
     cmd = [cmake] + args
     kwargs = dict()
     if capture_output:
@@ -260,3 +263,34 @@ class CMakeCache:
 
     def __iter__(self):
         return iter(self._entries.values())
+
+def _ensure_min_version(cmake, dry_run):
+    cmd = [cmake, '--version']
+    if dry_run:
+        log.inf('Dry run:', quote_sh_list(cmd))
+        return
+
+    try:
+        version_out = subprocess.check_output(cmd, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as cpe:
+        log.die('cannot get cmake version:', str(cpe))
+    decoded = version_out.decode('utf-8')
+    lines = decoded.splitlines()
+    if not lines:
+        log.die('can\'t get cmake version: ' +
+                'unexpected "cmake --version" output:\n{}\n'.
+                format(decoded) +
+                'Please install CMake ' + _MIN_CMAKE_VERSION_STR +
+                ' or higher (https://cmake.org/download/).')
+    version = lines[0].split()[2]
+    if packaging.version.parse(version) < _MIN_CMAKE_VERSION:
+        log.die('cmake version', version,
+                'is less than minimum version {};'.
+                format(_MIN_CMAKE_VERSION_STR),
+                'please update your CMake (https://cmake.org/download/).')
+    else:
+        log.dbg('cmake version', version, 'is OK; minimum version is',
+                _MIN_CMAKE_VERSION_STR)
+
+_MIN_CMAKE_VERSION_STR = '3.13.1'
+_MIN_CMAKE_VERSION = packaging.version.parse(_MIN_CMAKE_VERSION_STR)