diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index 8a5f5342..0cd8e46a 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -1162,6 +1162,8 @@ func (cfg *Config) TLSConfig() *tls.Config {
 	}
 }
 
+var errNoACMEChallengeInfo = errors.New("no active ACME challenge")
+
 // getACMEChallengeInfo loads the challenge info from either the internal challenge memory
 // or the external storage (implying distributed solving). The second return value
 // indicates whether challenge info was loaded from external storage. If true, the
@@ -1189,6 +1191,7 @@ func (cfg *Config) getACMEChallengeInfo(ctx context.Context, identifier string,
 	var chalInfo acme.Challenge
 	var chalInfoBytes []byte
 	var tokenKey string
+	var challengeFound bool
 	for _, issuer := range cfg.Issuers {
 		ds := distributedSolver{
 			storage:                cfg.Storage,
@@ -1198,6 +1201,7 @@ func (cfg *Config) getACMEChallengeInfo(ctx context.Context, identifier string,
 		var err error
 		chalInfoBytes, err = cfg.Storage.Load(ctx, tokenKey)
 		if err == nil {
+			challengeFound = true
 			break
 		}
 		if errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
@@ -1205,8 +1209,11 @@ func (cfg *Config) getACMEChallengeInfo(ctx context.Context, identifier string,
 		}
 		return Challenge{}, false, fmt.Errorf("opening distributed challenge token file %s: %v", tokenKey, err)
 	}
+	if !challengeFound {
+		return Challenge{}, false, fmt.Errorf("%w: no information found to solve challenge for identifier: %s", errNoACMEChallengeInfo, identifier)
+	}
 	if len(chalInfoBytes) == 0 {
-		return Challenge{}, false, fmt.Errorf("no information found to solve challenge for identifier: %s", identifier)
+		return Challenge{}, false, fmt.Errorf("decoding challenge token file %s: empty data", tokenKey)
 	}
 
 	err := json.Unmarshal(chalInfoBytes, &chalInfo)
diff --git a/httphandlers.go b/httphandlers.go
index 0e04fa48..6247eda3 100644
--- a/httphandlers.go
+++ b/httphandlers.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 package certmagic
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
@@ -114,7 +115,11 @@ func (am *ACMEIssuer) distributedHTTPChallengeSolver(w http.ResponseWriter, r *h
 		}
 
 		// couldn't get challenge info even with distributed solver
-		am.Logger.Warn("looking up info for HTTP challenge",
+		log := am.Logger.Warn
+		if errors.Is(err, errNoACMEChallengeInfo) {
+			log = am.Logger.Debug
+		}
+		log("looking up info for HTTP challenge",
 			zap.String("uri", r.RequestURI),
 			zap.String("identifier", host),
 			zap.String("remote_addr", r.RemoteAddr),
diff --git a/httphandlers_test.go b/httphandlers_test.go
index 2447ea69..949d1d84 100644
--- a/httphandlers_test.go
+++ b/httphandlers_test.go
@@ -15,12 +15,28 @@
 package certmagic
 
 import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"os"
 	"testing"
+
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
+	"go.uber.org/zap/zapcore"
+	"go.uber.org/zap/zaptest/observer"
 )
 
+type loadResultStorage struct {
+	Storage
+	data []byte
+	err  error
+}
+
+func (s loadResultStorage) Load(context.Context, string) ([]byte, error) {
+	return s.data, s.err
+}
+
 func TestHTTPChallengeHandlerNoOp(t *testing.T) {
 	am := &ACMEIssuer{CA: "https://example.com/acme/directory", Logger: defaultTestLogger}
 	testConfig := &Config{
@@ -59,3 +75,65 @@ func TestHTTPChallengeHandlerNoOp(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestHTTPChallengeLookupLogLevel(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name      string
+		storage   Storage
+		wantLevel zapcore.Level
+	}{
+		{
+			name:      "no active challenge",
+			storage:   &memoryStorage{},
+			wantLevel: zap.DebugLevel,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "empty challenge data",
+			storage: loadResultStorage{
+				Storage: &memoryStorage{},
+				data:    []byte{},
+			},
+			wantLevel: zap.WarnLevel,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "storage failure",
+			storage: loadResultStorage{
+				Storage: &memoryStorage{},
+				err:     errors.New("storage unavailable"),
+			},
+			wantLevel: zap.WarnLevel,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			core, logs := observer.New(zap.DebugLevel)
+			logger := zap.New(core)
+			am := &ACMEIssuer{
+				CA:     "https://example.com/acme/directory",
+				Logger: logger,
+			}
+			am.config = &Config{
+				Issuers: []Issuer{am},
+				Storage: tt.storage,
+				Logger:  logger,
+			}
+
+			req := httptest.NewRequest(
+				http.MethodGet,
+				"http://example.com/.well-known/acme-challenge/token",
+				nil,
+			)
+			if am.HandleHTTPChallenge(httptest.NewRecorder(), req) {
+				t.Fatal("expected challenge request not to be handled")
+			}
+
+			entries := logs.FilterMessage("looking up info for HTTP challenge").All()
+			if len(entries) != 1 {
+				t.Fatalf("expected one challenge lookup log, got %d", len(entries))
+			}
+			if entries[0].Level != tt.wantLevel {
+				t.Fatalf("expected log level %s, got %s", tt.wantLevel, entries[0].Level)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}