For Minnesota's high school Nordic ski teams, there's one question that hovers over each unseasonably warm winter day like a gray cloud.

A gray cloud, with nothing falling from it.

"It's the biggest question all of us have," DeLaSalle coach Matt Lynch said. "Is it going to snow?"

Last year's winter was the warmest on record in Minnesota, with unusually little snowfall. Another mild December made skiable trails scarce early in this Nordic ski season. And while early January temperatures are expected to be lower, there's still little to no snow in the forecast for the upcoming week.

When there's little snow on the ground, many Twin Cities and suburban teams flock to practice trails with snow-making capabilities, such as Theodore Wirth Regional Park, the Three Rivers park system in Plymouth or Powell Park in Big Lake.

Hopkins coach Brett Schulze wants to have his skiers see as many different trails as possible.

"We have just this great system of trails, these great parks and trails that are really pretty," he said.

But last year, "we were confined to manufactured snow loops," he said. Still, Schulze prefers it over dry-land training. "We will do everything we can to get on those ski trails."

High demand for the handful of parks with manufactured snow limits the amount of open space available for beginner skiers to learn.

"The beginning of the year is always crowded," Lynch said. "And last year, for the whole year, it was kind of a mess."

For many teams, the added transportation costs to reach alternative practice locations — or equipment needed to replicate training off the snow — add up.

In a survey of more than 100 Nordic ski youth coaches earlier this year by the University of Minnesota's Equitable Sport and Physical Activity Innovations Lab, coaches reported expense increases last winter from a few hundred dollars to over $10,000, but mostly between $1,000 and $3,000 when compared with the 2022-2023 season.

"We had to travel farther to get to the man-made snow," one respondent said. "Each of our 120 skiers purchased a daily pass or season pass for an extra $149 that we don't usually have to buy."

Dr. Sarah Kaja, an assistant professor and director of the university's ESPI Lab, along with researchers Samantha Adler and Hans-Peter de Ruiter, surveyed 116 youth coaches from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan in late April and May to better understand how warm winters affect Nordic coaches and their teams across the Upper Midwest.

Responses revealed that 94% of coaches found last year's conditions very (53%) or somewhat (41%) disruptive to their season. One-third of coaches surveyed had four or more races cancelled last season, and 83% had to find alternate practice sites. Last February, DeLaSalle's section race started at 6:30 a.m., with skiers racing through the dark — against one another and against the sunrise's warmth.

"This is not just a greater Minnesota thing, a rural area thing [or] a Twin Cities metro-area thing," Kaja said. "Coaches all over the state of Minnesota reported concerns about the current and future effects of climate change and burnout."

Among responding coaches, 70% said skiers' technique had declined compared to the previous season, and the same amount worried skiers found the sport less enjoyable.

"I think [coaches] are really anticipating that there will be more and more frequent winters like [2023-24]," she said.

Coaches may have to work on keeping skiers motivated, developing engaging off-snow training routines, organizing contingency transportation plans and focusing on individual improvement rather than overall results, Kaja said.

"Instead of trying to be the fastest you can be right now, [we focus on] trying to make this something that you can do for your whole life," Lynch said. "We do everything we can to just keep things fun."