diff --git a/lib/storage/storage.go b/lib/storage/storage.go
index bfd73989e..1f93c4baf 100644
--- a/lib/storage/storage.go
+++ b/lib/storage/storage.go
@@ -595,7 +595,10 @@ func nextRetentionDuration(retentionMonths int) time.Duration {
 	n -= n % retentionMonths
 	y := n / 12
 	m := time.Month((n % 12) + 1)
-	deadline := time.Date(y, m, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+	// Schedule the deadline to +4 hours from the next retention period start.
+	// This should prevent from possible double deletion of indexdb
+	// due to time drift - see https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/248 .
+	deadline := time.Date(y, m, 1, 4, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
 	return deadline.Sub(t)
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/storage/storage_test.go b/lib/storage/storage_test.go
index cf408170e..da07e89f5 100644
--- a/lib/storage/storage_test.go
+++ b/lib/storage/storage_test.go
@@ -306,10 +306,9 @@ func TestMetricRowMarshalUnmarshal(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestNextRetentionDuration(t *testing.T) {
 	for retentionMonths := 1; retentionMonths < 360; retentionMonths++ {
-		currTime := time.Now().UTC()
-
 		d := nextRetentionDuration(retentionMonths)
-		if d < 0 {
+		if d <= 0 {
+			currTime := time.Now().UTC()
 			nextTime := time.Now().UTC().Add(d)
 			t.Fatalf("unexected retention duration for retentionMonths=%d; got %s; must be %s + %d months", retentionMonths, nextTime, currTime, retentionMonths)
 		}