diff --git a/lib/meteor.js b/lib/meteor.js
index a3d7f11fd6..ded873d4de 100644
--- a/lib/meteor.js
+++ b/lib/meteor.js
@@ -388,12 +388,13 @@ Fiber(function () {
         // XXX think carefully about what happens if we double-update
         var updatedFrom = opt.argv['updated-from'] || releaseVersion;
 
+        var didUpdate = warehouse.fetchLatestRelease();
+
         // we need to update the global releaseVersion variable
         // because that's what engineSpringboard reads
         /* global */ releaseVersion = warehouse.latestRelease();
 
         // XXX make errors look good
-        var didUpdate = warehouse.fetchLatestRelease();
         if (didUpdate) {
           console.log("Updated Meteor to release " + releaseVersion + ".");
           engineSpringboard(['--updated-from=' + updatedFrom]);