A dust devil tornado picked up clumps of earth as it whirled along a roadside in Laos.

Footage shows the 50ft-tall twister picking up the soil and rotating it across the lot near a motorway on a hot afternoon in the capital Vientiane on May 13.

The brown dried-up soil mixed with the air gave the tornado a distinct colour, as seen from a passing driver's car.

Dust devil tornadoes are types of whirlwinds that form when the sun heats a patch of land and the air above becomes warmer and rises quickly.

Cooler air then moves into the low-pressure gap left by the rising warm air. The new drafts of cooler air also heat up and rise and the cycle continues, picking up dust and debris and making the spiral visible.

The rare weather phenomenon are not as dangerous as supercell tornadoes, which can cause severe damage.