Houston - A powerful dust storm roared through West Texas and the Panhandle late on Sunday and pushed dusty, hazing conditions all the way into the Houston area on Monday. These types of dust storms are known as Haboobs , and occur in dry regions throughout the world.
This browser does not support the Video element.
The word itself is derived from the Arabic word, habb, which means "to blow" or "strong wind."
Haboobs tend to form as a result of strong thunderstorms—in particular, the thunderstorms’ downdrafts—which are relatively common in the southwestern U.S. It is unusual to see Haboobs this time of year, typically they occur from July through September.
FOX26 Meteorologist Mike Iscovitz says, "Those intense winds produce a wall of dust and in the case of West Texas this past Sunday that wall of dust dropped visibility values to zero and caused havoc. "
These storms usually last about 10 to 30 minutes, but some can linger longer, spreading disorder on the region's transportation systems.
RELATED: Monday's with Mike
Inside a haboob, skies turn a dark orange color from the dust, and visibilities can quickly drop to near zero, making haboobs extremely dangerous along freeways and highways.
In the town of Memphis, Texas there was a wind gust of 114mph recorded there. Many other parts of the state were hammered with hurricane-forced winds as the storms roared across the state.