Sensing coverage problem in wireless sensor networks is a measure of quality of service (QoS). Coverage refers to how well a sensing field is monitored or tracked by the sensors. Aim of the paper is to have a priori estimate for number of sensors to be deployed in a harsh environment to achieve desired coverage. We have proposed a new sensing channel model that considers combined impact of shadowing fading and multipath effects. A mathematical model for calculating coverage probability in the presence of multipath fading combined with shadowing is derived based on received signal strength (RSS). Further, the coverage probability derivations obtained using Rayleigh fading and lognormal shadowing fading are validated by node deployment using Poisson distribution. A comparative study between our proposed sensing channel model and different existing sensing models for the network coverage has also been presented. Our proposed sensing model is more suitable for realistic environment since it determines the optimum number of sensors required for desirable coverage in fading conditions.