diff --git a/gridded_glm/libexec/_minute_gridder.py b/gridded_glm/libexec/_minute_gridder.py
index c22df94f76fd0c819a31f9759c456274ee2d83a0..583dc57f2cb2ef8da5fa27977aa68a27f54ab28b 100644
--- a/gridded_glm/libexec/_minute_gridder.py
+++ b/gridded_glm/libexec/_minute_gridder.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def create_parser():
     import argparse
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=parse_desc)
     parser.add_argument('-v', '--verbose', dest='verbosity', action="count", default=0,
-                        help='each occurrence increases verbosity 1 level through ERROR-WARNING-INFO-DEBUG (default INFO)')
+                        help='each occurrence increases verbosity 1 level through ERROR-WARNING-INFO-DEBUG (default ERROR)')
     parser.add_argument('-l', '--log', dest="log_fn", default=None,
                         help="specify the log filename")
     # from Requirements: "Output is Gridded GLM in the native glmtools NetCDF4 format, with a user option to produce AWIPS-compatible NetCDF tiles as described below"
@@ -183,7 +183,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     # Configure logging
     levels = [logging.ERROR, logging.WARN, logging.INFO, logging.DEBUG]
-    logging.basicConfig(level=levels[min(3, args.verbosity)], filename=args.log_fn)
+    clamp = lambda n, minn, maxn: max(min(maxn, n), minn) # used below to keep us from going off the end of the logging levels
+    logging.basicConfig(level=levels[clamp(args.verbosity, 0, len(levels)-1)], filename=args.log_fn)
     if levels[min(3, args.verbosity)] > logging.DEBUG:
         import warnings
         warnings.filterwarnings("ignore")