Watch: Severe thunderstorms unleash a massive dust storm in Texas

Intense winds stirred up a massive haboob in Texas on Tuesday. Drivers became blindsided as they were caught in the mess.

Powerful, tropical-storm-force winds picked up a dust storm that affected portions of the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday. The video above shows the dust storm, also known as a haboob, closing in on Amarillo, Texas, just south of the historic route 66.

Radar imagery from Tuesday identified the dust storm-producing severe thunderstorms moving into Lubbock later in the day. Outflows and straight-line winds from the storms hit 67 mph in Perryton, 63 mph in Borger and 68 mph in Bushland, just west of Amarillo.

A few of these storms produced golf ball-sized hail and flooding rain, while earlier in the day, some of these locations were experiencing temperatures up to 100 degrees. Talk about a busy weather day!

Named after the Arabic word habb, meaning "to blow," haboobs occur when fierce winds sweep up dust, dirt, or other fine particles of earth and loft them into a wall-like front, usually in the outflow winds of a severe thunderstorm.

Intense haboobs can grow to heights of 5000 feet and stretch for hundreds of miles. Strong winds and dusty conditions within the dust storm can suddenly overtake cities, decreasing visibility and making air quality extremely poor, sometimes for several hours.