diff --git a/lib/meteor.js b/lib/meteor.js
index f5ddfe6707..a3d7f11fd6 100644
--- a/lib/meteor.js
+++ b/lib/meteor.js
@@ -388,9 +388,12 @@ Fiber(function () {
         // XXX think carefully about what happens if we double-update
         var updatedFrom = opt.argv['updated-from'] || releaseVersion;
 
+        // 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();
-        /* global */ releaseVersion = warehouse.latestRelease();
         if (didUpdate) {
           console.log("Updated Meteor to release " + releaseVersion + ".");
           engineSpringboard(['--updated-from=' + updatedFrom]);