diff --git a/xarray/core/dataarray.py b/xarray/core/dataarray.py
index c49a41de108..6c93de53dcb 100644
--- a/xarray/core/dataarray.py
+++ b/xarray/core/dataarray.py
@@ -4344,14 +4344,22 @@ def to_zarr(
             Store or path to directory in local or remote file system only for Zarr
             array chunks. Requires zarr-python v2.4.0 or later.
         mode : {"w", "w-", "a", "a-", r+", None}, optional
-            Persistence mode: "w" means create (overwrite if exists);
-            "w-" means create (fail if exists);
-            "a" means override all existing variables including dimension coordinates (create if does not exist);
-            "a-" means only append those variables that have ``append_dim``.
-            "r+" means modify existing array *values* only (raise an error if
-            any metadata or shapes would change).
+            Persistence mode:
+
+            - "w" means create (remove old if exists and write new);
+            - "w-" means create (fail if exists);
+            - "a" means override all existing variables including dimension coordinates (create if does not exist);
+            - "a-" means only append those variables that have ``append_dim``.
+            - "r+" means modify existing array *values* only (raise an error if
+              any metadata or shapes would change).
+
             The default mode is "a" if ``append_dim`` is set. Otherwise, it is
             "r+" if ``region`` is set and ``w-`` otherwise.
+
+            .. note::
+                When modifying an existing Zarr array that is lazily opened, the "w"
+                behavior can be surprising since the underlying file that is being
+                lazily read from might get deleted before the data is computed.
         synchronizer : object, optional
             Zarr array synchronizer.
         group : str, optional
diff --git a/xarray/core/dataset.py b/xarray/core/dataset.py
index c1e1b961f22..248f53d687b 100644
--- a/xarray/core/dataset.py
+++ b/xarray/core/dataset.py
@@ -2233,14 +2233,22 @@ def to_zarr(
             Store or path to directory in local or remote file system only for Zarr
             array chunks. Requires zarr-python v2.4.0 or later.
         mode : {"w", "w-", "a", "a-", r+", None}, optional
-            Persistence mode: "w" means create (overwrite if exists);
-            "w-" means create (fail if exists);
-            "a" means override all existing variables including dimension coordinates (create if does not exist);
-            "a-" means only append those variables that have ``append_dim``.
-            "r+" means modify existing array *values* only (raise an error if
-            any metadata or shapes would change).
+            Persistence mode:
+
+            - "w" means create (remove old if exists and write new);
+            - "w-" means create (fail if exists);
+            - "a" means override all existing variables including dimension coordinates (create if does not exist);
+            - "a-" means only append those variables that have ``append_dim``.
+            - "r+" means modify existing array *values* only (raise an error if
+              any metadata or shapes would change).
+
             The default mode is "a" if ``append_dim`` is set. Otherwise, it is
             "r+" if ``region`` is set and ``w-`` otherwise.
+
+            .. note::
+                When modifying an existing Zarr array that is lazily opened, the "w"
+                behavior can be surprising since the underlying file that is being
+                lazily read from might get deleted before the data is computed.
         synchronizer : object, optional
             Zarr array synchronizer.
         group : str, optional
diff --git a/xarray/core/datatree.py b/xarray/core/datatree.py
index 65feb8da4c9..98934f29b92 100644
--- a/xarray/core/datatree.py
+++ b/xarray/core/datatree.py
@@ -2157,10 +2157,20 @@ def to_zarr(
         store : zarr.storage.StoreLike
             Store or path to directory in file system
         mode : {{"w", "w-", "a", "r+", None}, default: "w-"
-            Persistence mode: “w” means create (overwrite if exists); “w-” means create (fail if exists);
-            “a” means override existing variables (create if does not exist); “r+” means modify existing
-            array values only (raise an error if any metadata or shapes would change). The default mode
-            is “w-”.
+            Persistence mode:
+
+            - "w" means create (remove old if exists and write new);
+            - "w-" means create (fail if exists);
+            - "a" means override all existing variables including dimension coordinates (create if does not exist);
+            - "r+" means modify existing array *values* only (raise an error if
+              any metadata or shapes would change).
+
+            The default mode is “w-”.
+
+            .. note::
+                When modifying an existing Zarr array that is lazily opened, the "w"
+                behavior can be surprising since the underlying file that is being
+                lazily read from might get deleted before the data is computed.
         encoding : dict, optional
             Nested dictionary with variable names as keys and dictionaries of
             variable specific encodings as values, e.g.,