diff --git a/k8s/deployment-hrrr-point-rs.yaml b/k8s/deployment-hrrr-point-rs.yaml
index 63fcdaef..9579fb8e 100644
--- a/k8s/deployment-hrrr-point-rs.yaml
+++ b/k8s/deployment-hrrr-point-rs.yaml
@@ -69,10 +69,13 @@ spec:
             limits:
               # Per-batch peak is a single CONUS surface + pressure
               # decode (~40 MB blob, ~200 MB wgrib2 working set plus
-              # the merged CellValues map). 1 Gi gives headroom with
-              # room for occasional retries.
+              # the full 92k-cell merged CellValues map kept in memory
+              # until all requested points are drained). 1 Gi OOMKilled
+              # repeatedly — four restarts in ten minutes — so bumped
+              # to 2 Gi. The scheduler-on-worker2 placement has plenty
+              # of headroom.
               cpu: "2"
-              memory: 1Gi
+              memory: 2Gi
           securityContext:
             allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
             runAsNonRoot: true
diff --git a/rust/prop_grid_rs/Cargo.toml b/rust/prop_grid_rs/Cargo.toml
index bcfde348..692479cb 100644
--- a/rust/prop_grid_rs/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/prop_grid_rs/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ path = "src/bin/hrrr_point_worker.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
 tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
-sqlx = { version = "0.8", features = ["runtime-tokio-rustls", "postgres", "uuid", "chrono", "macros"] }
+sqlx = { version = "0.8", features = ["runtime-tokio-rustls", "postgres", "uuid", "chrono", "macros", "json"] }
 reqwest = { version = "0.12", features = ["rustls-tls", "stream"], default-features = false }
 bytes = "1"
 anyhow = "1"
diff --git a/rust/prop_grid_rs/src/hrrr_points.rs b/rust/prop_grid_rs/src/hrrr_points.rs
index 7e8c8bd9..46126a74 100644
--- a/rust/prop_grid_rs/src/hrrr_points.rs
+++ b/rust/prop_grid_rs/src/hrrr_points.rs
@@ -75,6 +75,17 @@ pub async fn process_batch(
     .await
     .expect("blocking join")?;
 
+    // Empty grids almost always mean the HRRR archive doesn't have this
+    // cycle (common for backfills older than the rolling retention
+    // window). Log so "0 inserted" doesn't look like a silent success.
+    if sfc_grid.is_empty() && prs_grid.is_empty() {
+        tracing::warn!(
+            valid_time = %valid_time,
+            points = points.len(),
+            "hrrr fetch returned empty surface and pressure grids — upstream archive likely missing this cycle"
+        );
+    }
+
     // For each requested point, pull the merged cell and build an
     // hrrr_profiles row. Skip the point silently if extract_grid
     // produced nothing for its snapped key (e.g. off-CONUS).
@@ -124,10 +135,14 @@ async fn upsert_profile(
         .copied()
         .map(|v| v as f64);
 
-    // Pressure-level profile list for SoundingParams.derive compatibility
-    // on the Elixir read side. Same shape Elixir's HrrrClient.build_profile
-    // emits: [{"pres_mb", "hght_m", "tmpc", "dwpc"}, …].
-    let levels: Vec<serde_json::Value> = fetcher::GRID_PRESSURE_LEVELS
+    // Pressure-level profile list. Postgres column `profile` is jsonb[]
+    // (ARRAY of jsonb), one element per level, matching Elixir's
+    // HrrrClient.build_profile output shape:
+    //   [{"pres_mb", "hght_m", "tmpc", "dwpc"}, …]
+    // We build a Vec<Json<Value>> so sqlx encodes it as jsonb[] rather
+    // than wrapping the whole list in a single jsonb (which yields the
+    // "expression is of type jsonb" type-mismatch error at runtime).
+    let levels: Vec<sqlx::types::Json<serde_json::Value>> = fetcher::GRID_PRESSURE_LEVELS
         .iter()
         .filter_map(|&p| {
             let pres_mb = p as f64;
@@ -141,10 +156,9 @@ async fn upsert_profile(
             if let Some(dv) = d {
                 m.insert("dwpc".into(), serde_json::json!((dv as f64) - 273.15));
             }
-            Some(serde_json::Value::Object(m))
+            Some(sqlx::types::Json(serde_json::Value::Object(m)))
         })
         .collect();
-    let profile_json = serde_json::Value::Array(levels);
 
     let id = Uuid::new_v4();
     sqlx::query(
@@ -154,7 +168,7 @@ async fn upsert_profile(
            surface_temp_c, surface_dewpoint_c, surface_pressure_mb,
            is_grid_point, inserted_at, updated_at)
         VALUES
-          ($1, $2, $3, $4, $2, $5::jsonb, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10, false, NOW(), NOW())
+          ($1, $2, $3, $4, $2, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10, false, NOW(), NOW())
         ON CONFLICT (lat, lon, valid_time) DO UPDATE
         SET profile = EXCLUDED.profile,
             hpbl_m = EXCLUDED.hpbl_m,
@@ -169,7 +183,7 @@ async fn upsert_profile(
     .bind(valid_time.naive_utc())
     .bind(lat)
     .bind(lon)
-    .bind(serde_json::to_string(&profile_json).unwrap_or_else(|_| "[]".to_string()))
+    .bind(&levels)
     .bind(hpbl_m)
     .bind(pwat_mm)
     .bind(surface_temp_c)