What The Heck Is A Haboob? These Videos Will Show You. (It's Safe For Work, Promise.)

The alert went out after 6 p.m. Wednesday: A dust storm is coming.

The wall of dust swept across the South Plains of Texas, creating low-visibility conditions in Lubbock.

Gusts from strong thunderstorms sent "considerable amounts of dust" in the air, the National Weather Service in Lubbock said, resulting in a haboob.

What makes a haboob a haboob? It's a dust storm created by a downburst of wind that can grow as high as 5,000 feet, travel up to 60 mph for hundreds of miles, and spread out 100 miles wide. 

This video shows the massive wall of dust approaching the town of Big Spring, northeast of Midland.

A time-lapse video from a TV news station in Lubbock caught the dust storm as it moved through a neighborhood. 

Another time-lapse video, this one from a tower cam at the NWS in Lubbock, shows the haboob as it approaches a busy road. 

For some drivers, visibility went down to zero Wednesday, creating life-threatening conditions.