diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 0876190230..53ad02a6bb 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "@gmod/jbrowse",
   "main": "browser/main.js",
-  "version": "1.16.2-alpha.0",
+  "version": "1.16.2",
   "description": "JBrowse - client-side genome browser",
   "repository": "https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse.git",
   "scripts": {
diff --git a/release-notes.md b/release-notes.md
index 09d6d06619..0856b4478c 100644
--- a/release-notes.md
+++ b/release-notes.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{{$NEXT}}
+# Release 1.16.2     2019-02-01 03:31:36 UTC
 
 ## Minor improvements
 
diff --git a/src/JBrowse/package.json b/src/JBrowse/package.json
index 56de67e70d..ca3c878e86 100644
--- a/src/JBrowse/package.json
+++ b/src/JBrowse/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "JBrowse",
-    "version": "1.16.2-alpha.0",
+    "version": "1.16.2",
     "copyright":"© 2007-2017 The Evolutionary Software Foundation",
     "main": "main",
     "dependencies": {
diff --git a/website/blog/2019-01-31-jbrowse-1-16-2.md b/website/blog/2019-01-31-jbrowse-1-16-2.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eb48a82d6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/website/blog/2019-01-31-jbrowse-1-16-2.md
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: JBrowse 1.16.2 maintenance release
+date: 2019-01-31
+tags: ["News","Software releases"]
+---
+
+I'm happy to announce the release of 1.16.2, it is a smaller maintenance release. It contains several fixes including for CSI in BAM files,
+and several other small fixes. Thanks to everyone for communicating requests and bug reports
+
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.2.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/releases/download/1.16.2-release/JBrowse-1.16.2.zip) - minified release
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.2-dev.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/archive/1.16.2-release.zip) - use this if you modify jbrowse source code or use plugins
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.2-desktop-win32-x64.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/releases/download/1.16.2-release/JBrowse-1.16.2-desktop-win32-x64.zip)
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.2-desktop-linux-x64.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/releases/download/1.16.2-release/JBrowse-1.16.2-desktop-linux-x64.zip)
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.2-desktop-darwin-x64.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/releases/download/1.16.2-release/JBrowse-1.16.2-desktop-darwin-x64.zip)
+
+
+
+
+## Minor improvements
+
+ * Allow configuring the cache busting behavior for adding random ?v= value
+   to config file requests. This can be configured in index.html. Thanks to
+   user <a href="https://github.com/sandilyaamit">@sandilyaamit</a> for reporting, this is actually important to disable
+   when using Amazon presigned URLs (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
+ * Adds `fixBounds` config for XYPlot tracks which can be set to false to
+   disable the behavior of rounding up or down on the min_score/max_score
+   variables for the ruler. Thanks to <a href="https://github.com/scottcain">@scottcain</a> for the suggestion
+   (<a href="https://github.com/gmod/jbrowse/pull/1306">issue #1306</a>, <a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
+## Bug fixes
+
+ * Fix ability to use CSI indexes with BAM files since 1.16.0 (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
+ * Fix ability to read some CRAM files with unmapped mates (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
+ * Fix issue with the browser loading NaN locations on startup (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
+ * Add fix for exporting GFF3 for newer browsers that have Array.values()
+   enabled. Thanks to Scott Cain for reporting (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
+ * Improve error message when refSeqs=file.fai config fails to load
+   (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
diff --git a/website/siteConfig.js b/website/siteConfig.js
index dcd5bf7a02..034f63896a 100644
--- a/website/siteConfig.js
+++ b/website/siteConfig.js
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ const createVariableInjectionPlugin = variables => {
 };
 
 const v = {
-    "version": "1.16.1"
+    "version": "1.16.2"
 };
 const siteVariables = {
     "version": v.version,