PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — The Highway Patrol is blaming winter weather for a two-car collision that killed two people in southeast Kansas.

The crash happened just before 2 p.m. Tuesday on U.S. 69, about two miles south of Pittsburg.

The patrol says a southbound car driven by a 65-year-old Parsons man went out of control on the slick roadway and swerved into the northbound lane, where it was hit by an oncoming car.

Authorities identified the victims as 67-year-old Parsons resident Helen Prater, who was a passenger in the southbound car, and the driver of the northbound car, 59-year-old Pittsburg resident Judith Harvey.

Highway Patrol Maj. John Eichkorn (EYE’-korn) said no precipitation was falling at the time, but the snowstorm that hit much of Kansas also created freezing conditions in the southeast.