diff --git a/xarray/core/common.py b/xarray/core/common.py
index ecf2946a636..eab28f2c6d1 100644
--- a/xarray/core/common.py
+++ b/xarray/core/common.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 from .pycompat import basestring, iteritems, suppress, dask_array_type
 from . import formatting
-from .utils import SortedKeysDict
+from .utils import SortedKeysDict, not_implemented
 
 
 class ImplementsArrayReduce(object):
@@ -477,6 +477,12 @@ def where(self, cond):
         """
         return self._where(cond)
 
+    # this has no runtime function - these are listed so IDEs know these methods
+    # are defined and don't warn on these operations
+    __lt__ = __le__ =__ge__ = __gt__ = __add__ = __sub__ = __mul__ = \
+    __truediv__ = __floordiv__ = __mod__ = __pow__ = __and__  = __xor__ = \
+    __or__ = __div__ = __eq__ = __ne__ = not_implemented
+
 
 def squeeze(xarray_obj, dims, dim=None):
     """Squeeze the dims of an xarray object."""
diff --git a/xarray/core/utils.py b/xarray/core/utils.py
index b27ae947e6b..76f1dc22577 100644
--- a/xarray/core/utils.py
+++ b/xarray/core/utils.py
@@ -431,3 +431,7 @@ def hashable(v):
     except TypeError:
         return False
     return True
+
+
+def not_implemented(*args, **kwargs):
+    return NotImplemented