diff --git a/mhcflurry/downloads_command.py b/mhcflurry/downloads_command.py
index 8dfc5fb667953459e51fcc0ba91659d4c378568f..34403ab7d01bd2acfc1728073a5dcb6e838b8198 100644
--- a/mhcflurry/downloads_command.py
+++ b/mhcflurry/downloads_command.py
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ import errno
 import tarfile
 from tempfile import mkstemp
 from tqdm import tqdm
+tqdm.monitor_interval = 0  # see https://github.com/tqdm/tqdm/issues/481
+
 try:
     from urllib.request import urlretrieve
 except ImportError:
diff --git a/mhcflurry/train_allele_specific_models_command.py b/mhcflurry/train_allele_specific_models_command.py
index 30a8ae6934461631bec68fad5d8c6fcb4467cc07..c05ce47908f8def1712c488e8f2013cd90da1224 100644
--- a/mhcflurry/train_allele_specific_models_command.py
+++ b/mhcflurry/train_allele_specific_models_command.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import pandas
 import yaml
 from mhcnames import normalize_allele_name
 import tqdm  # progress bar
+tqdm.monitor_interval = 0  # see https://github.com/tqdm/tqdm/issues/481
 
 from .class1_affinity_predictor import Class1AffinityPredictor
 from .common import configure_logging, set_keras_backend