Collection modified within cursor.foreach() is removed after completion - mongodb

Question

I'm trying to iterate through a collection to build a new collection (hits_col) with counts of entries from the first collection. The code I've written so far appears to work as the iteration is happening, however, once the .forEach() method is finished the new collection (hits_col) gets removed.
RAW_COL.find({}, {fields: {created_time: 1}}).forEach(function (doc) {
var date = moment.unix(doc.created_time).format("YYYYMMD");
var hitCOUNT = hits_COL.findOne({'_id': date});
try {
if(tags === undefined) {
hits_COL.insert({'_id': date, 'hits': 1}, function (err, id) {
if(err == null) console.log("Entry " + id + " was created.");
else console.log(err);
});
} else {
hitCOUNT.hits = hitCOUNT.hits + 1;
hits_COL.update({'_id': date}, {'hits': tags.hits});
}
} catch (err) {throw err;}
}
While RAW_COL is iterating I can go to my collection and check the current entries and all is well.
meteor:PRIMARY> db.hits.find()
{ "_id" : "20160121", "hits" : 7887 }
{ "_id" : "20160120", "hits" : 7417 }
{ "_id" : "20160122", "hits" : 7533 }
{ "_id" : "20160124", "hits" : 8047 }
{ "_id" : "20160123", "hits" : 8262 }
{ "_id" : "20160125", "hits" : 7579 }
{ "_id" : "20160126", "hits" : 2111 }
{ "_id" : "20160119", "hits" : 7594 }
{ "_id" : "20160118", "hits" : 7788 }
{ "_id" : "20160117", "hits" : 7746 }
{ "_id" : "20160116", "hits" : 7609 }
{ "_id" : "20160115", "hits" : 3348 }
However, after the forEach() function is finished the collection is removed or something and the same mongo call returns nothing.
meteor:PRIMARY> db.hits.find()
What am I missing here?
Thanks for any and all help!

Answer 1

The above code was proceeded with
Meteor.startup(function () { hits_COL.remove({}); });
Which is called after the the forEach() call.