diff --git a/agent/consul/rpc.go b/agent/consul/rpc.go
index cd2fc265223a..248c0c82cc9b 100644
--- a/agent/consul/rpc.go
+++ b/agent/consul/rpc.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"net"
 	"strings"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/armon/go-metrics"
@@ -519,8 +520,12 @@ type queryFn func(memdb.WatchSet, *state.Store) error
 // blockingQuery is used to process a potentially blocking query operation.
 func (s *Server) blockingQuery(queryOpts structs.QueryOptionsCompat, queryMeta structs.QueryMetaCompat, fn queryFn) error {
 	var timeout *time.Timer
+	var queriesBlocking uint64
 	var queryTimeout time.Duration
 
+	// Instrument all queries run
+	metrics.IncrCounter([]string{"rpc", "query"}, 1)
+
 	minQueryIndex := queryOpts.GetMinQueryIndex()
 	// Fast path right to the non-blocking query.
 	if minQueryIndex == 0 {
@@ -542,10 +547,20 @@ func (s *Server) blockingQuery(queryOpts structs.QueryOptionsCompat, queryMeta s
 	timeout = time.NewTimer(queryTimeout)
 	defer timeout.Stop()
 
+	// instrument blockingQueries
+	// atomic inc our server's count of in-flight blockingQueries and store the new value
+	queriesBlocking = atomic.AddUint64(&s.queriesBlocking, 1)
+	// atomic dec when we return from blockingQuery()
+	defer atomic.AddUint64(&s.queriesBlocking, ^uint64(0))
+	// set the gauge directly to the new value of s.blockingQueries
+	metrics.SetGauge([]string{"rpc", "queries_blocking"}, float32(queriesBlocking))
+
 RUN_QUERY:
+	// Setup blocking loop
 	// Update the query metadata.
 	s.setQueryMeta(queryMeta)
 
+	// Validate
 	// If the read must be consistent we verify that we are still the leader.
 	if queryOpts.GetRequireConsistent() {
 		if err := s.consistentRead(); err != nil {
@@ -553,8 +568,7 @@ RUN_QUERY:
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Run the query.
-	metrics.IncrCounter([]string{"rpc", "query"}, 1)
+	// Run query
 
 	// Operate on a consistent set of state. This makes sure that the
 	// abandon channel goes with the state that the caller is using to
@@ -571,7 +585,7 @@ RUN_QUERY:
 		ws.Add(state.AbandonCh())
 	}
 
-	// Block up to the timeout if we didn't see anything fresh.
+	// Execute the queryFn
 	err := fn(ws, state)
 	// Note we check queryOpts.MinQueryIndex is greater than zero to determine if
 	// blocking was requested by client, NOT meta.Index since the state function
@@ -584,6 +598,7 @@ RUN_QUERY:
 	if err == nil && queryMeta.GetIndex() < 1 {
 		queryMeta.SetIndex(1)
 	}
+	// block up to the timeout if we don't see anything fresh.
 	if err == nil && minQueryIndex > 0 && queryMeta.GetIndex() <= minQueryIndex {
 		if expired := ws.Watch(timeout.C); !expired {
 			// If a restore may have woken us up then bail out from
@@ -594,6 +609,7 @@ RUN_QUERY:
 			select {
 			case <-state.AbandonCh():
 			default:
+				// loop back and look for an update again
 				goto RUN_QUERY
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/agent/consul/server.go b/agent/consul/server.go
index 332fa9aa8b96..4b592ac94499 100644
--- a/agent/consul/server.go
+++ b/agent/consul/server.go
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ var (
 // Server is Consul server which manages the service discovery,
 // health checking, DC forwarding, Raft, and multiple Serf pools.
 type Server struct {
+	// queriesBlocking is a counter that we incr and decr atomically in
+	// rpc calls to provide telemetry on how many blocking queries are running.
+	// We interact with queriesBlocking atomically, do not move without ensuring it is
+	// correctly 64-byte aligned in the struct layout
+	queriesBlocking uint64
+
 	// aclConfig is the configuration for the ACL system
 	aclConfig *acl.Config
 
diff --git a/website/source/docs/agent/telemetry.html.md b/website/source/docs/agent/telemetry.html.md
index 7bb420eb3e84..2f0766d90d07 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/agent/telemetry.html.md
+++ b/website/source/docs/agent/telemetry.html.md
@@ -765,10 +765,16 @@ These metrics are used to monitor the health of the Consul servers.
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td>`consul.rpc.query`</td>
-    <td>This increments when a server sends a (potentially blocking) RPC query.</td>
+    <td>This increments when a server receives a new blocking RPC request, indicating the rate of new blocking query calls. See consul.rpc.queries_blocking for the current number of in-flight blocking RPC calls. This metric changed in 1.7.0 to only increment on the the start of a query. The rate of queries will appear lower, but is more accurate.</td>
     <td>queries</td>
     <td>counter</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>`consul.rpc.queries_blocking`</td>
+    <td>This shows the current number of in-flight blocking queries the server is handling.</td>
+    <td>queries</td>
+    <td>gauge</td>
+  </tr>
   <tr>
     <td>`consul.rpc.cross-dc`</td>
     <td>This increments when a server sends a (potentially blocking) cross datacenter RPC query.</td>
diff --git a/website/source/docs/upgrade-specific.html.md b/website/source/docs/upgrade-specific.html.md
index 6c83337e5aee..5aaf834b48a0 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/upgrade-specific.html.md
+++ b/website/source/docs/upgrade-specific.html.md
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ users, both the datacenter and the services namespace will be present. For examp
 PTR record would previously have contained `web.service.consul`, it will now be `web.service.dc1.consul`
 in OSS or `web.service.ns1.dc1.consul` for Enterprise.
 
+### Telemetry: semantics of `consul.rpc.query` changed, see `consul.rpc.queries_blocking`
+
+Consul has changed the semantics of query counts in its [telemetry](/docs/agent/telemetry.html#metrics-reference).
+`consul.rpc.query` now only increments on the *start* of a query (blocking or non-blocking), whereas before it would
+measure when blocking queries polled for more data. The gauge `consul.rpc.queries_blocking` has been added for a more
+to more precisely capture the view of *active* blocking queries.
+
 ## Consul 1.6.0
 
 #### Removal of Deprecated Features