diff --git a/files/ansible-playbooks/sot-updater.yml b/files/ansible-playbooks/sot-updater.yml
index a39c40b..a7b1289 100644
--- a/files/ansible-playbooks/sot-updater.yml
+++ b/files/ansible-playbooks/sot-updater.yml
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@
     control_queue: "{{ lookup('env','CONTROLQUEUE') | default('queue_controls', true) }}"
 
   pre_tasks:
+
+    - name: "NB preflight | Pause 3s for cloud to settle"
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      ansible.builtin.pause:
+        seconds: 1
+
     - name: "NB preflight | Verify script exists"
       delegate_to: localhost
       ansible.builtin.stat: