No word on tornado warnings here, but the shear radar was quiet last time I checked. Still quiet. I'musing the Houiston feed which has a range gate essentially at the LA border. Not sure what's up east of there.
Bead lightnong is a form of ball lightning. When a stroke weakens at the end I believe that internal emag forces make small sections of it ball up. The linear stroke dissolves into a string of beads. It crackles when it does that, consistent with regular ball lightning which often explodes when it disappears. Many small explosions at close range equals "crackle".
Thats what I saw and heard. Best guess between 1000 and 2000 feet away.
It was kewl.
I saw some bead lightning (also a brief instance of ball lightning) about 20 yrs ago during a tornado strike about a mile away. It so surprised me that I can still see "the videotape in my head" whenever ball or bead lightning is mentioned. The general noise level was too great for me to hear the crackle, though.
You're right: it is kewl.