diff --git a/etcdserver/metrics.go b/etcdserver/metrics.go
index 7d57b8115..8675d0ca2 100644
--- a/etcdserver/metrics.go
+++ b/etcdserver/metrics.go
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ var (
 		Name:      "heartbeat_failures_total",
 		Help:      "The total number of heartbeat send failures (likely overloaded from slow disk).",
 	})
+	slowApplies = prometheus.NewCounter(prometheus.CounterOpts{
+		Namespace: "etcd",
+		Subsystem: "server",
+		Name:      "slow_apply_total",
+		Help:      "The total number of slow apply requests (likely overloaded from slow disk).",
+	})
 	proposalsCommitted = prometheus.NewGauge(prometheus.GaugeOpts{
 		Namespace: "etcd",
 		Subsystem: "server",
@@ -97,6 +103,7 @@ func init() {
 	prometheus.MustRegister(isLeader)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(leaderChanges)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(heartbeatFailures)
+	prometheus.MustRegister(slowApplies)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(proposalsCommitted)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(proposalsApplied)
 	prometheus.MustRegister(proposalsPending)
diff --git a/etcdserver/util.go b/etcdserver/util.go
index d3f69e09e..b8a325a75 100644
--- a/etcdserver/util.go
+++ b/etcdserver/util.go
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ func warnOfExpensiveGenericRequest(now time.Time, reqStringer fmt.Stringer, pref
 			result = resp
 		}
 		plog.Warningf("%srequest %q with result %q took too long (%v) to execute", prefix, reqStringer.String(), result, d)
+		slowApplies.Inc()
 	}
 }