The second sense of determine is not “to forecast or predict”, but rather to “find out by investigation, reasoning, or calculation”, sense 4 in Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster gives other examples of this sense: “<determine the answer to the problem> <determine a position at sea>”.
If we take a look at the first ten results in newspapers for determine in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, we see this sense occurs in six of them:
- jobs. // And so we acted robustly. And now it's time to determine whether or not this pro-growth package will actually work. // The checks will start
- onto Floor 10 -- - incognito, of course -- - and set out to determine whether it was truly what women want. // You know: Mirrors that make
- astronomy. Its original mission was to find a way for sailors at sea to determine longitude. Unlike latitude, which uses the equator as a starting position, there
- Sharpton stood with members of Officer Ridley's family and called for an investigation to determine whether the shooting was justified. //' Just as we are calling on the
- // Win or lose -- and the status of West's sore back could largely determine the outcome -- the future in New Orleans appears bright. The core players --
- , they lifted all sanctions. // Whether Clayton can do that hard work could determine if Flenoury can go to one of his two choice schools, Georgia or Duke
- worked with Kerviel was released after being questioned. Two investigating judges are trying to determine what, if anything, Kerviel's colleagues and superiors knew about his unauthorized trades
- because of my race? Sure. " // He doesn't think race will determine who wins the election, however. Obama said most voters will make their choice
- confluence within the monument boundary, so right now Dinosaur is an incredible lab to determine the impact dams have on rivers. " // Kleinschnitz, who started rowing the
- fight and every team gives it -- for a while. But early results can determine where a team keeps fighting all season and how confidently it battles in the close
The only uses which are not the sense meaning “to find out” are #5, #6, #8, and #10. So, from this admittedly small sample it does appear that both senses enjoy approximately equally robust usage.