diff --git a/spectral_cube/utils.py b/spectral_cube/utils.py
index 220c40b3..ad4200f2 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/utils.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/utils.py
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@
 
 bigdataurl = "https://spectral-cube.readthedocs.io/en/latest/big_data.html"
 
-from tqdm.auto import tqdm as ProgressBar
+from tqdm.auto import tqdm
+
+def ProgressBar(niter, **kwargs):
+    return tqdm(total=niter, **kwargs)
 
 
 def cached(func):