You will be required to compromise on your desires, particularly with regard to weather (probably).
Yes the Chemical Engineering Department at Oregon State University is very good. I don’t know if they welcome transfers. Another direct-admit program is at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, an excellent STEM school where you will work harder than you’ve ever worked beforehand. The weather in Rapid City SD is a bit different from the rest of the Dakotas. It can get cold, but the snowfall is infrequent. The Spring, Summer and Fall can be quite nice in Rapid City.
A couple of warm-weather schools to consider, given your circumstances, are Louisiana Tech University and Tennessee Technological University. LTU is in the middle of nowhere, so getting there is an adventure. TTU is about 80 miles from Nashville. There’s also ChE at U of Tennessee-Chattanooga, which is about a 2 hours drive from Atlanta. Like Rapid City, Chattanooga is an interesting small city with some cultural attractions. Chattanooga is also home to a large and relatively new Volkswagen manufacturing facility.
Be aware that ChE is a very demanding major wherever you matriculate, so take heed of the advice offered to you by the earlier posters whom contributed to this thread.