Rainbow shines over World Trade Center on eve of 9/11 anniversary

Of the victims of the 9/11 attacks, 2,606 died in the World Trade Center and surrounding area

Rainbow over the World Trade Center the day before the 14th anniversary of 9/11 (Twitter/Inga Sarda-Sorensen)

Stunning pictures have been captured of a rainbow over the World Trade Center - just a day before the anniversary of 9/11.

The rainbow appeared over lower Manhattan at about 8am local time on Thursday, and was soon being widely shared on social media.

Friday marks the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks which took the lives of 2,977 people, including 67 Britons, when passenger jets hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.

A white rose is seen placed on a name of a 9/11 attacks victim at the National September 11 Memorial in New York (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Some social media users spotted a double rainbow that appeared during what was a cloudy day, between rainstorms.

A photo posted by carolhan (@carolhan) on Sep 10, 2015 at 5:12am PDT

One image captured the rainbow covering the whole city.

A photo posted by Sanaa Lathan (@sanaalathan) on Sep 10, 2015 at 5:11am PDT

The rainbow was also spotted over other New York landmarks, including the Empire State building.

A photo posted by scj. (@mrjoanofarc_) on Sep 9, 2015 at 9:30pm PDT

Danish architect Bjarke Ingels has designed an 80 storey building for 2 World Trade Center, which will be 1,340 ft tall.

The plans, estimated to cost $4bn, are still in development although the foundation for the site's second skyscraper has been laid since 2013.