A system for storing time series data includes an ingester that prepares metadata indices associated with blocks of incoming time series data and stores the blocks of data in a time series database and the indices in a separate index database. The time series database distributes storage of the data blocks among multiple data nodes. A query layer receives queries and uses the index database to determine which data blocks are needed to process the query, and then requests only those data blocks from the time series database. Processing of the query is performed within the time series database only on those data nodes that contain relevant data, and partial results are passed to an output layer for formation into a final query result.