Sometimes but not always.
Yes. If a tornado is rain wrapped rain can be drawn into the circulation.
Tornadoes are often, but not always, preceded by heavy downpours, which may or may not stop before the tornado strikes.
No. Rain does not cause a tornado. However, both rain and tornadoes are caused by thunderstorms.
Typically, tornadoes are difficult to see in heavy rain because the rain can obscure visibility. However, in some cases, the tornado may be visible if the rain is not too heavy or if there is a break in the rain. It is always important to take shelter and follow weather advisories during severe weather.
A tornado that is surrounded by rain is said to be rain-wrapped. Rain-wrapped tornadoes can be especially dangerous because they are difficult to see.
The tornado itself did not produce rain. But Springfield did get some rain from the system that produce the tornado.
Tornadoes are accompanied by rain, but they do not produce it themselves. Rather, the rain is a product of the thunderstorm that spawned the tornado. Hurricanes produce very heavy rain.
Usually a tornado come after rain, as most tornadoes are located in the rear portion of a supercell.
Before a tornado, the weather often becomes stormy, with dark clouds, heavy rain, lightning, and strong wind gusts. The atmosphere may also feel heavy and oppressive, and there may be a noticeable change in air pressure. Many times, tornadoes are preceded by severe thunderstorms.
It is possible, but unlikely. Tornadoes are always spawned by thunderstorms, most often coming behind rain or embedded in it. In some cases, however, tornadoes can form with low-precipitation (LP) supercells, which produce little or no rain. In another case, a town was devastated by a tornado that was not preceded by rain as the storm that spawned it essentially moved backwards. Rain did come afterward, however.
A tornado itself does not produce rain, but it can accompany a tornado. The storms the produce tornadoes, called supercells typically produce very heavy rain, often enough to prompt flash flood warnings. This rain may stop before the tornado comes, or the tornado may be rain wrapped. Some storms however, called LP (low-precipitation) supercells produce little to no rain at all, but can still produce tornadoes.