diff --git a/storage/local/storage.go b/storage/local/storage.go
index d772758d9..8c8ca8d2f 100644
--- a/storage/local/storage.go
+++ b/storage/local/storage.go
@@ -1252,7 +1252,7 @@ func (s *MemorySeriesStorage) cycleThroughArchivedFingerprints() chan model.Fing
 func (s *MemorySeriesStorage) loop() {
 	checkpointTimer := time.NewTimer(s.checkpointInterval)
 
-	dirtySeriesCount := 0
+	var dirtySeriesCount int64
 
 	defer func() {
 		checkpointTimer.Stop()
@@ -1263,38 +1263,52 @@ func (s *MemorySeriesStorage) loop() {
 	memoryFingerprints := s.cycleThroughMemoryFingerprints()
 	archivedFingerprints := s.cycleThroughArchivedFingerprints()
 
+	// Checkpoints can happen concurrently with maintenance so even with heavy
+	// checkpointing there will still be sufficient progress on maintenance.
+	checkpointLoopStopped := make(chan struct{})
+	go func() {
+		for {
+			select {
+			case <-s.loopStopping:
+				checkpointLoopStopped <- struct{}{}
+				return
+			case <-checkpointTimer.C:
+				// We clear this before the checkpoint so that dirtySeriesCount
+				// is an upper bound.
+				atomic.StoreInt64(&dirtySeriesCount, 0)
+				s.dirtySeries.Set(0)
+				err := s.persistence.checkpointSeriesMapAndHeads(s.fpToSeries, s.fpLocker)
+				if err != nil {
+					log.Errorln("Error while checkpointing:", err)
+				}
+				// If a checkpoint takes longer than checkpointInterval, unluckily timed
+				// combination with the Reset(0) call below can lead to a case where a
+				// time is lurking in C leading to repeated checkpointing without break.
+				select {
+				case <-checkpointTimer.C: // Get rid of the lurking time.
+				default:
+				}
+				checkpointTimer.Reset(s.checkpointInterval)
+			}
+		}
+	}()
+
 loop:
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-s.loopStopping:
 			break loop
-		case <-checkpointTimer.C:
-			err := s.persistence.checkpointSeriesMapAndHeads(s.fpToSeries, s.fpLocker)
-			if err != nil {
-				log.Errorln("Error while checkpointing:", err)
-			} else {
-				dirtySeriesCount = 0
-				s.dirtySeries.Set(0)
-			}
-			// If a checkpoint takes longer than checkpointInterval, unluckily timed
-			// combination with the Reset(0) call below can lead to a case where a
-			// time is lurking in C leading to repeated checkpointing without break.
-			select {
-			case <-checkpointTimer.C: // Get rid of the lurking time.
-			default:
-			}
-			checkpointTimer.Reset(s.checkpointInterval)
 		case fp := <-memoryFingerprints:
 			if s.maintainMemorySeries(fp, model.Now().Add(-s.dropAfter)) {
-				dirtySeriesCount++
-				s.dirtySeries.Inc()
+				dirty := atomic.AddInt64(&dirtySeriesCount, 1)
+				s.dirtySeries.Set(float64(dirty))
 				// Check if we have enough "dirty" series so that we need an early checkpoint.
 				// However, if we are already behind persisting chunks, creating a checkpoint
 				// would be counterproductive, as it would slow down chunk persisting even more,
 				// while in a situation like that, where we are clearly lacking speed of disk
 				// maintenance, the best we can do for crash recovery is to persist chunks as
 				// quickly as possible. So only checkpoint if the urgency score is < 1.
-				if dirtySeriesCount >= s.checkpointDirtySeriesLimit &&
+				if dirty >= int64(s.checkpointDirtySeriesLimit) &&
 					s.calculatePersistenceUrgencyScore() < 1 {
 					checkpointTimer.Reset(0)
 				}
@@ -1308,6 +1322,7 @@ loop:
 	}
 	for range archivedFingerprints {
 	}
+	<-checkpointLoopStopped
 }
 
 // maintainMemorySeries maintains a series that is in memory (i.e. not