diff --git a/modules/internal/LocaleModelHelpSetup.chpl b/modules/internal/LocaleModelHelpSetup.chpl
index a95170b05ee9..243ffa7a8c1f 100644
--- a/modules/internal/LocaleModelHelpSetup.chpl
+++ b/modules/internal/LocaleModelHelpSetup.chpl
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ module LocaleModelHelpSetup {
 
   config param debugLocaleModel = false;
 
-  extern var chpl_nodeID: chpl_nodeID_t;
+  pragma "fn synchronization free"
+  extern "get_chpl_nodeID" proc chpl_nodeID: chpl_nodeID_t;
 
   record chpl_root_locale_accum {
     var nPUsPhysAcc: atomic int;
diff --git a/runtime/include/chpl-comm.h b/runtime/include/chpl-comm.h
index ffb5bec0d833..c20c45df8e2a 100644
--- a/runtime/include/chpl-comm.h
+++ b/runtime/include/chpl-comm.h
@@ -41,6 +41,14 @@ extern c_nodeid_t chpl_nodeID; // unique ID for each node: 0, 1, 2, ...
 // the current task is running.
 // Note also that this value is set only in chpl_comm_init to a value which is
 // (hopefully) unique to the running image, and never changed again.
+
+//
+// Helper function for Chapel to get the value of chpl_nodeID
+//
+static inline c_nodeid_t get_chpl_nodeID(void) {
+  return chpl_nodeID;
+}
+
 extern int32_t chpl_numNodes; // number of nodes
 
 size_t chpl_comm_getenvMaxHeapSize(void);
diff --git a/test/localeModels/dmk/locale_name.chpl b/test/localeModels/dmk/locale_name.chpl
index 058e8ffb239a..6f6e42761dfa 100644
--- a/test/localeModels/dmk/locale_name.chpl
+++ b/test/localeModels/dmk/locale_name.chpl
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 extern proc chpl_nodeName(): c_string;
-extern var chpl_nodeID: chpl_nodeID_t;
 
 var locale_name = here.chpl_name();
 
diff --git a/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.chpl b/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.chpl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ef19a220a678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.chpl
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+var s$: sync int = 0;
+
+writeln("coforall: ");
+coforall loc in Locales {
+  on loc {
+    while (s$.readFF() != here.id) { }
+    s$.readFE();
+    writeln("chpl_nodeID: ", chpl_nodeID, ", here.id = ", here.id);
+    s$.writeEF(here.id+1);
+  }
+}
+writeln();
+s$.writeXF(0);
+
+writeln("forall: ");
+forall loc in Locales {
+  on loc {
+    while (s$.readFF() != here.id) { }
+    s$.readFE();
+    writeln("chpl_nodeID: ", chpl_nodeID, ", here.id = ", here.id);
+    s$.writeEF(here.id+1);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.comm-none.good b/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.comm-none.good
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8ae7967010af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.comm-none.good
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+coforall: 
+chpl_nodeID: 0, here.id = 0
+
+forall: 
+chpl_nodeID: 0, here.id = 0
diff --git a/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.good b/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.good
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..26e74e64cbc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.good
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+coforall: 
+chpl_nodeID: 0, here.id = 0
+chpl_nodeID: 1, here.id = 1
+chpl_nodeID: 2, here.id = 2
+chpl_nodeID: 3, here.id = 3
+
+forall: 
+chpl_nodeID: 0, here.id = 0
+chpl_nodeID: 1, here.id = 1
+chpl_nodeID: 2, here.id = 2
+chpl_nodeID: 3, here.id = 3
diff --git a/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.numlocales b/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.numlocales
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b8626c4cff28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/localeModels/nodeIDbug.numlocales
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+4