A massive dust storm buried parts of New Mexico and Texas in airborne smut Monday morning, shutting down highways and leaving nearly 900,000 residents trapped in a potentially deadly cloud.The dust storm — a particularly fierce variety known as a “haboob” — was miles wide and thousands of feet tall,

A haboob (pronounced “huh-boob”) is a dust storm that appears like an advancing wall of dust and debris thousands of feet high and miles long.

Powerful winds whipped up dust storms across Texas and New Mexico on Monday, March 3, reducing visibility and forcing highway closures. A dust storm warning and a blowing dust advisory were in effect in the area.